An Australian journalist has been assaulted by a man armed with a screwdriver on television during a live cross in central London.
Nine News’s Europe correspondent Sophie Walsh was covering a Black Lives Matter protest in Hyde Park on Wednesday morning local time when she was attacked.
Walsh was speaking during a live cross for Adelaide’s 6pm news bulletin, but was not in front of the camera, when the incident happened as footage of the day’s earlier protests in Paris was being screened.
Thank you for your messages. The man has been arrested for threats to kill and carrying a weapon. I’m shaken but ok. Big thanks to my incredible camerman Jason Conduit who chased him down armed with a light stand and got him arrested. https://t.co/YRxrUB3j4l
— Sophie Walsh (@sophie_walsh9) June 3, 2020
In the footage Walsh can be heard to scream before camera operator Jason Conduit armed himself with a light stand and chased the man into the park.
“S***, sorry, sorry,” a shaken Walsh is heard saying to the presenter as she watches the men run away.
“Yeah a man just came up and grabbed me, but he’s OK, he’s not armed. A man just came up and grabbed me though.”
The man was chased down and detained by Conduit and passers-by until police arrived and arrested him.
Meanwhile, Ben Avery, another Channel Nine foreign correspondent, was cornered by protesters during a protest in London this morning.
Avery was crossing to Nine’s Today Show from London, when he was pushed and chased from the protest, eventually finding
#BREAKING: Nine News Europe Correspondent @benavery9 has had to abandon his coverage as protesters clash with police in London. #9News pic.twitter.com/xL3x7ACdvj
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) June 3, 2020
With AAP
