“Antifa wants me dead”: Journalist Andy Ngo says he was chased, beaten by militant leftist mob

“Antifa wants me dead”: Journalist Andy Ngo says he was chased, beaten by militant leftist mob
Andy Ngo/Twitter
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Portland-based journalist Andy Ngo broke his silence for the first time since he became the target of a brutal attack, allegedly by a mob of far-left Antifa militants. Ngo first rose to fame as a journalist covering the Antifa beat after he was kicked and punched by a group of masked assailants at a Portland protest in May 2019, and has given testimony to Congress about the threat posed by the militant leftist organization. 

Details of the mobbing were shared on videos posted to social media, and were featured in a Willamette Week report detailing how the militants reportedly chased, tackled, and punched him after he hit the ground. The Week reported:

A group of five to 10 people in identity-obscuring clothing called “black bloc” followed the person they suspected of being Ngo for blocks, inquiring who he was. At one point, the person they pursued said his name was Jake. In front of the AC Marriott, the group tried to unmask the unknown man. He ran for blocks until someone in the pursuing group tackled him—at Southwest 4th Avenue and Morrison Street—and punched him several times after his head hit the brick sidewalk.

A nearby man holding a skateboard admonished the group, saying that their quarry looked like he’d “had enough.” However, when someone nearby shouted that the person they were assaulting was Ngo, the skateboard-carrying man changed his attitude, swearing and joining the group.

Speaking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Ngo recalled the brutal attack. 

“As your viewers probably know, two years ago I was beaten badly when I was covering a public demonstration in downtown Portland, but that didn’t silence me. I continued to do my reporting, come up with different ways… I wised up. This particular time I was actually undercover fully in their uniform marching along with them,” he said. “I think what gave it away though was that they paid attention to the fact that I wasn’t engaging in criminal activities with them, such as throwing projectiles at law enforcement or trying to damage the Central Police Station.”

“So they sent a few people to interrogate and then they pulled off my mask and my goggles and shouted ‘That’s him. Get him. Get him.’ And I ran for my life throughout downtown Portland in the middle of the street. There was no police. The fastest one in the mob caught up to me, tackles me to the ground, and was repeatedly punching me on the back of my head, and my face and I was pleading for mercy. He got distracted, I got up and ran into the nearest thing that was open because most of the businesses in downtown Portland are boarded up, which was the Nines Hotel. When I got in, I pled with the hotel security and staff to call 911 and they told me that I needed to put on a mask and that I had to leave.”

Ngo told Ingraham that despite reporting the incident to the police, he has yet to hear back from a detective. He added that he has made at least two dozen reports to the police over the death threats he’s received as well as unsolicited visits by Antifa to his parents’ home.”

Ngo stated that the threats on his life were the reason he fled Portland, and that the only reason he returned was to care for his elderly parents regarding a family matter. 

“It’s important for journalists to be on the ground to see,” he said. 

“Well, it‘s important to be on the ground, Andy, but apparently you have a target on your back and you can’t just keep getting beaten in the head,” replied Ingraham. “It’s not going to be good for you. You just can’t. Someone else is going to have to pick up the mantle here because they know who you are and they are just going to beat you, and they’ll probably try to kill you. And they would if they could. Thank you for your continued reporting but you’ve got to be careful.”  

Posting on Twitter, Ngo wrote: “No journalist in America should ever face violence for doing his or her job.” 

Ngo explained that he participated in the Antifa protest undercover to work on a new chapter of his book, Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.

“I was chased, attacked and beaten by a masked mob, baying for my blood. Had I not been able to shelter wounded and bleeding inside a hotel while they beat the doors and windows like animals, there is no doubt in my mind I would not be here today. Their words, like their actions, speak for themselves,” he added, with evidence of threats made by Antifa militants against him on social media. 

“Antifa wants me dead because I document what they want to stay hidden. The attacks against me and threats on my life are retribution for my work as a journalist, recording the tactics and true ideology of an extremist clandestine movement that relies on deception and regards the truth as the greatest threat of all,” he said. “They want the right to hide their identities behind masks, and erase records of their arrests and alleged crimes.”

“They want me dead for capturing these things and reporting on them. But it is the right of every journalist, protected and preserved by the founding fathers, to report freely without fear. I was forced to flee my home in Portland last year as the death threats escalated but returned recently to take care of my elderly family. When I engaged in field reporting for my book, I did what every beat reporter would do: I took care to mitigate the risks and went to observe Antifa first-hand during a demonstration at the Justice Center. Like many other journalists Antifa has tried to silence and intimidate through violence and threats, I had to cover my face and eyes to do my job and stay alive.”

In the thread, Ngo stated that police arrested and charged at least one of the members of the mob as others called for police to stop protecting him. However, the man was soon released as an Antifa bail fund group paid for his release. 

For their part, Antifa militants say that the attack was justified because Ngo’s continued coverage of their criminal pursuits has caused them to face “harassment.”

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