BBC News wants a review of the security at campaign events of the American president Donald Trump after the BBC News cameraman Ron Skeans was physically attacked at a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas in the United States on Monday.
Ron Skeans, covering Donald Trump's El Paso campaign rally for BBC News, told BBC News that the man wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, shoved and swore at him and other TV news crews. "I didn't know what was going on".
The man, allegedly drunk, almost knocked him and his camera over twice before he was wrestled away by a blogger.
Donald Trump witnessed the attack. He stopped his speech to ask if Ron Skeans was okay with a thumbs-up, and continued on with his speech after the cameraman returned the gesture.
The BBC says it has written to Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, asking for a review of security arrangements for the media attending the president's rallies following the attack on its cameraman.
The BBC's Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue was sitting in front of the camera and told the BBC in a radio interview that "it was an incredibly violent attack. This is a constant feature of these rallies - a goading of the crowds against the media".
The BBC Washington editor Eleanor Montague said: "The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night."
Paul Danaher, the BBC’s Americas bureau editor said "Access into the media area was unsupervised. No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job".
The BBC Washington editor Eleanor Montague said: "The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night."
Paul Danaher, the BBC’s Americas bureau editor said "Access into the media area was unsupervised. No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job".
