Independent Journalists Attacked By Violent Anti-ICE Mob in Minneapolis

Original article here

Independent journalists Nick Sortor and Cam Higby were physically attacked by a violent mob during an anti-ICE demonstration outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Sunday night, after a far-left streamer threatened to track and harass them.

According to Sortor, agitators scuffled with them whenever they left their vehicle to film clashes between law enforcement and the anti-ICE militants.

“We did our best not to engage with them,” Higby stated on X.  “Obviously they repeatedly initiated physical contact with us.”

At one point, an aggressive masked female agitator got in front of Sortor,  holding up a sign to block him from filming. Sortor snatched the sign from her and threw it on the ground.   The woman continued hounding the journalist, throwing punches and trying to grab his phone away. Sortor continued filming while pushing her away with his free hand. He pulled off her mask so she could be identified and face consequences for the assault, Higby explained later on X.

Federal agents deployed flash bangs, tear gas, and pepper balls to disperse the increasingly violent mob, which allowed the two to escape to their vehicle, a white Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

The masked militants then surrounded their Jeep, threatening to kill them and throwing trash at the vehicle.  The agitators also spray-painted “bitch” on its back windshield, and smashed the back windshield with frozen water bottles.

As their jeep was being mobbed by the menacing agitators, Sortor and Higby were forced to evacuate from the scene.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” Sortor warned, before driving off—with one agitator jumping on top of the jeep’s hood as it made its way trough the mob. The agitator took a short ride before falling off into a snowbank.

Sortor and Higby were briefly detained by police after the agitators called 911, accusing Sortor of running over demonstrators and carrying a gun—allegations he denied, and which video evidence taken by the agitators themselves clearly disprove.

“I was forced to drive away to save our lives, repeatedly warning those standing in front to GET OUT OF THE WAY,” Sortor later explained on X. “They didn’t listen, so I had no choice but to go anyway.”

He said he had to drive his truck off the road to avoid hitting one of their vehicles blocking the road.

“Then, it appears we were CHASED down the interstate by another one of their goons,” the reporter continued.

“I have to post this now because these idiots called the police on me saying I had a gun and was ‘running innocent protestors over,’” Sortor added, referring to his video of getting attacked by the mob. “You can try to terrorize me all you want. BUT I WILL NEVER STOP, AND NEVER SHUT UP,” he declared.

Sortor reported that the frozen water bottles were distributed as part of a coordinated attack, and urged the FBI to investigate.

Pro-Antifa streamer Andrew Mercado is accused of siccing the mob on the two journalists.

“They can’t fight. But they have security. Security will have to earn their paycheck,” he said during a livestream.

Mercado posted his video of the mob attack on social media, apparently under the impression that it put the agitators in a positive light. He can be heard repeatedly accusing Sortor of hitting a defenseless woman.

“One of the things you leftist militants refuse to understand is the more you harass, threaten, and try to kiII me, the longer I stay around,” Sortor posted defiantly on X. “You picked a fight with the wrong guy tonight.”

In a post on X Monday, Higby lamented that it has become increasingly dangerous for independent media to cover the anti-ICE uprising in Minnesota due to the increased hostility of the agitators and lack of action from state and federal authorities.

“Does a journalist have to be killed before we actually start throwing these blood thirsty thugs in prison?” he asked.

That’s what we’re looking at. I do my job every day with the thought in my head that I may come home in a body bag. When are state, local, and federal authorities going to begin imprisoning these people?

It’s NOT a joke. They want us dead. ANTIFA has been declared a terrorist organization. Why is it not being treated like one? Round them up.

Sortor responded, “I’ve pretty much just come to the conclusion that we’re on our own, unfortunately.”

Since it began in early January, ICE’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota has led to over 1,500 arrests of illegal immigrants, including known murderers, rapists, gang members, and traffickers.

“Walz and Frey want us OUT, and these murderers, rapists, child sex abusers and more IN,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted on X, Monday. “ICE will continue our law enforcement mission in Minneapolis regardless of the hostile rhetoric against our agency.”