BBC cameraman was 'violently pushed and shoved' by man in MAGA hat at Trump rally

A man in a MAGA hat is restrained after attacking a BBC cameraman at a Trump rally in El Pasa, Texas. Photo / Twitter

A belligerent man at President Donald Trump's rally on the Texas border apparently attacked news crews, shoving and swearing at a photojournalist from the BBC, according to reports and a spokesman for the network.

The BBC said cameraman Ron Skeans was "violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd" while covering the campaign rally Monday night in El Paso, about a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border. The BBC spokesman said in a statement Tuesday to The Washington Post that, "The man was removed by security and Ron is fine. The President could see the incident and checked with us that all was ok."

"It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job," he added.

Officials with the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As The Washington Post's Philip Rucker and others reported, Trump spoke for about 75-minutes Monday, attempting "to paint an image of crime and lawlessness on the border while claiming falsely that violent crime went down in El Paso after a wall was built."

"We need the wall, and it has to be built, and we want to build it fast," he said, as people chanted, "Build that wall!" "Now, you really mean finish the wall," Trump responded.

Skeans, the cameraman, told BBC News that he did not see the Trump supporter coming at him but felt a "very hard shove" that almost knocked him down.

"I didn't know what was going on," he said.

Video from Skeans' camera showed it fall toward the ground. Seconds later, when the picture was restored, a man in a red "Make America Great Again" hat could be seen being restrained as he shouted, "[expletive] the media!"

BBC Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue said on Twitter that a rally attendee had jumped onto the media platform, "tried to smash our camera" and shoved his colleague, Skeans.

A photographer based in El Paso also tweeted a video from another angle, writing, "just had a man shove photogs and equipment over."

A reporter for the Washington Examiner wrote on Twitter that leading up to the altercation, Trump had "railed against all the media." But after the incident, Trump pointed toward the crowd and asked, "You all right? Everything OK?"

The president then flashed a thumbs up.