Journalist attacked on campus by Antifa recognizes attackers from 2020 BLM riots: 'These are professionals'
A journalist who was attacked by alleged Antifa members this week at the University of Washington warned Wednesday that trained "militants" have infiltrated college campuses across the country, adding that he recognized some of his attackers from the Black Lives Matter riots four years ago.
Discovery Institute senior fellow and Turning Point USA Frontlines reporter Jonathan Choe said he was filming the anti-Israel encampment at the university in Seattle, Washington ahead of a planned event featuring Turning Point founder, Charlie Kirk, when a group of masked men approached him. The men, dressed in all black holding umbrellas, began to provoke him and his crew.
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"I pretty much was in the quad yesterday…and I happened to stumble across one of the tents that said 'death to fascists,' Choe said Wednesday on "Jesse Watters Primetime." "I started recording and then I started to see one, five, ten, 15, 20 guys all blacked up, wearing black armor. They started following me. We started recording. We were trying to leave, that’s when the melee broke loose," he recalled.
In a harrowing caught-on-camera confrontation, Choe can be seen fleeing on foot as he is chased by alleged Antifa agitators following a brawl that left his security guard beaten and bleeding from his face. Police were immediately called to the scene, Choe said.
"The situation is untenable and out of control and the Antifa, the far left activists, the professional agitators, have infiltrated a U.S. campus. In this case, the University of Washington in Seattle," he told Jesse Watters.
Choe said the agitators used umbrellas as weapons and carried "bear mace."
"I have no doubt they have knives," he added. "Thank god, we did not see anything like that being pulled out but again this is how they play. All as a mob. They don’t go one on one, they sent 10, 20 guys on us at once and we are totally outnumbered 3-1. It’s my two security guards, I’m on my own. I was not instigating at all, I was simply defending myself and had to take off, as usual."
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Most of the alleged Antifa members at the encampment were masked, Choe said, but they appeared to be in their "mid forties."
"These are not students. The vast majority of the folks now in the quad at the University of Washington campus are older folks… these are professionals," he alleged. "They don’t want to show their faces, they probably have jobs at the local grocery store, gas station or even Starbucks, I have no idea."
"These are also some of the folks that I did recognize who did not have masks on, these are the folks I saw four years ago during the height of the BLM riots in 2020, the same agitators are now here on the quad," he added.
Choe called on Washington's Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee to take immediate action if UW's president, Ana Mari Cauce, fails to prioritize the safety of students and visitors on campus.
"This is absolutely scary stuff. I did not realize that after 20 years in American journalism that I would be doing hand-to-hand combat with these idiots in black bloc," he told Watters.
"This is getting worse," Choe added, "and at the end of the day…if they are afraid to take action, then the governor needs to come out here, call in the National Guard and clear this place out. It is a woke cesspool now infected with Antifa scum."
UW spokesperson Victor Balta told Fox News Digital the altercation is under investigation.
"We take all assaults very seriously and UWPD is gathering information on this incident," he said.