The British Broadcasting Corporation asked the White House for a review of security arrangements on Tuesday after a BBC cameraman was assaulted at a Donald Trump rally.
BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter yelling anti-media slogans during the U.S. president’s rally in El Paso, Texas, Monday night.
Skeans was unhurt and the man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat was restrained and removed from the riser where the media had assembled.
Paul Danahar, the BBC’s Americas Bureau Editor, said in a tweet that he had asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders for a “full review of security arrangements after last night’s attack.”
“Access into the media area was unsupervised,” Danahar said. “No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack.”
BBC Washington correspondent Gary O’Donoghue, who was covering the El Paso event, said his cameraman was pushed and shoved by the unidentified assailant “after the president repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias.”
He said the man attempted to smash the BBC camera.
“Happily, Ron is fine,” O’Donoghue said.
Trump paused his remarks following the commotion in the crowd and — pointing at the media – asked “You alright? Everything OK?”
Trump repeatedly denounces the media as the “enemy of the people” and frequently condemns critical reports about his administration as “fake news.”
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger urged Trump during an interview last month to tone down what he called his “potentially dangerous” rhetoric towards the press.