Female journalist speaks out after being attacked by ‘leftist extremists’ at Portland State
A female photojournalist who was attacked by alleged Antifa members last week at Portland State University in a harrowing caught-on-camera confrontation said the "leftist extremists" will continue to wreak havoc because they never face consequences.
"A friend that I was with said, ‘Turn around, there is a problem,’ so I turned around and there was a group of Antifa in bloc walking up on us and I could tell that they were going to target me," Chelly Bouferrache told Fox News Digital.
Bouferrache, an independent photojournalist and reporter for The Publica, was a stay-at-home mom who started covering the news in 2016. What began as a part-time gig has evolved into a passion project that has taken her to chaotic scenes in Berkeley, Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles to cover riots, protests and unrest. She ended up at Portland State when anti-Israel agitators occupied the library on campus last week, and the frightening ordeal resulted in her becoming a target.
"I ended up at Portland State a couple days ago because I knew that there was an encampment there. I saw, of course, what I would consider the usual people, a lot of people in what they call black bloc, head to toe black clothes. They cover their hands, they wear boots, they cover all their tattoos," she said.
"I was talking to some of the football players at PSU, and I looked over my shoulder, and it was a woman dressed in bloc. I covered her in a trial. She was a defendant, I knew who she was, and I knew she knew who I was," Bouferrache continued. "I’ve been threatened by Antifa and doxxed by Antifa many times."
Bouferrache said she made it clear that she didn’t want any problems and asked the woman to leave her alone. The woman initially obliged and walked off, according to Bouferrache. That was when she turned around and was approached by a group of Antifa members.
"They started yelling at me to get the f out of there, and there were several of them, and they’re all over this park, so I wasn’t sure what to do and I just kind of froze in my spot. I started to film them, I let them know that I felt threatened," Bouferrache said.
"I pulled out my pepper gel spray that I carry with me for cases just like this — I’ve only ever had to use it once — and I just let them know that I had it and not to get any closer," she said. "One of the men continued to get closer to me, taunting me, wanting me to spray him."
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Bouferrache’s footage shows the group of masked individuals urging her to use the pepper spray, when one announced they had an even bigger can of it. The man then took out his can of pepper spray and began shaking it while approaching Bouferrache, she said.
"I’m not a big guy and standing up to these people isn’t going to work for me," she said. "They’re not going to be scared of my strength or that I might beat them up."
Later, when covering another protest at the school, Bouferrache said she was approached by an "Antifa spotter," who recognized her as someone the group wouldn’t want to cover their antics and alerted others to her presence.
"I looked out of the corner of my eye and I saw another independent photojournalist, and he was filming that whole interaction and I thought, ‘Oh great, he’s going to shoot them hurting me,’ and as he’s filming another tall guy in bloc goes right after him and starts a fight with him," Bouferrache said.
The video, which was provided to Fox News Digital, shows the journalist warning the alleged Antifa member to back away when the recording device was suddenly slapped away from his hand.
Bouferrache said she saw the encounter and caught it on video. She went to retrieve her fellow journalist's phone while he tussled with the man who slapped it to the ground.
"I just got knocked over, and I don’t know how many people it was, because I was just not losing my equipment, and I started screaming, and then I could feel people on my legs, so I started kicking. I heard this lady say, ‘stop,’ and I look up and it’s a woman standing. She stood over the top of me while they were trying to get equipment off me and stop them. She was like a normal person walking her dog," Bouferrache said.
"People that are on the ground at Portland State University call themselves antifascists. They’re really not antifascists, they’re leftist extremists, and they’ve been allowed to take over whatever they want in this city, and I’ve seen it in other cities," she continued. "I’m not sure what’s going to stop them from doing this if they never face any consequences."
She also posted footage of the situation on social media.
"I edited a video of what happened to me yesterday as I was getting ready to leave PSU here in Portland. This is something that comes with the territory. I put only the highlights in here. These sociopaths have wreaked havoc on the city for years now," Bouferrache wrote.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.