Baltimore police in riot gear wrestled to the ground and beat a photographer for the City Paper at a Freddie Gray protest as bystanders screamed at the cops that he was with the press.

In dramatic cell phone footage taken by City Paper Managing Editor Baynard Woods, photo editor J.M. Giordano is seen being tackled and swarmed by police officers.

In the video Woods can be heard yelling, “He’s a photographer! He’s press!” as the police continue to pile on Giordano.

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Giordano and Woods were both covering protests against the police over the death of African-American Freddie Gray last Sunday, following his arrest during which he suffered a broken neck.

According to Giordano, he was swarmed by the officers and knocked to the ground with their riot shields after someone in the crowd threw a rock at them.

“They just swarmed over me,” he says. “I got hit. My head hit the ground. They were hitting me, then someone pulled me out.”

Giordano said he began re-shooting photographs again after being rescued but that police attempted to block his view.

According to Giordano, Reuters photographer Sait Serkan Gurbuz, who was standing nearby, was arrested and taken away by police van only to be released later after being cited for disorderly conduct.

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On his Twitter account, Woods stated that supporters of the police were stating that the officers were attempting to protect Giordano, and not to believe it.

A Vine of the assault and tweets can be seen below:

Yesterday, the police assaulted a photographer. Now, this is violence. Baltimore. #FreddieGray https://t.co/JKPlyMTTzz — deray mckesson (@deray) April 26, 2015

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1. I’ve seen people say that @BaltimorePolice tackled @jmgpix to protect him from being robbed. I was there and took the video. NOT TRUE — Baynard Woods (@baynardwoods) April 26, 2015

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2.@BaltimorePolice @jmgpix if you’ve heard people say that, please don’t share it. It is false. — Baynard Woods (@baynardwoods) April 26, 2015

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