Global News cameraman Trevor Owens will be giving a behind-the-scenes look at covering the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro throughout the Games.
After getting lost in Rio de Janeiro’s slum, or the City of God, I vowed not to be in a dicey situation like that again. I woke up the next morning and made a promise to my wife that I would be more careful.
That only lasted until I hung up the phone last Friday.
Read More: Global News cameraman gets lost on the streets of Rio de Janeiro
A protest was planned in Saens Pena Square, an easy access point for locals and close to Rio’s main Olympic stadium. I gathered my camera and laptop in case traffic was bad and I had to edit video on the fly.
I arrived at 1 p.m., about an hour before the protest was supposed to begin. We sat outside in a beautiful café. We looked around, wondering if this protest would materialize. Before we could express this to each other, Filipe, our Brazilian driver, was already asking around. Then we found out we were three hours early.
We walked back into the square to be certain and soon discovered we were wildly ill-prepared for this event. As television and print media started to arrive, all of them were armed with gas masks and helmets.
Standing in the square you’d have thought everyone else was being paranoid. The sun was shining and people in this beautiful market laughed and sang songs. Filipe tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the street. Before I turned around, I could hear loud clanking noises. Then I saw several officers on horseback dressed in full body armor.
Filipe grabbed my arm and swung me around to show me approximately 20 officers in the same attire, carrying large batons and walking into the crowd. Suddenly the gas masks and helmets made a lot of sense and I felt extremely exposed, yet nothing seemed to be happening. We headed to a restaurant, found power to plug into and began to edit the footage I captured.
An hour later, Filipe got a call advising us to go to the square. I grabbed a camera and raced into the crowd. The protest marched down the street and instantly a fight broke out. I saw a police officer raise a baton. The crowd of protesters and media swarmed him as he began to taunt the crowd.
Loud chants rose up and thankfully — for us and the people watching — another officer put his hands on his fellow officer’s shoulder and the tension quickly dissolved. The protest made its way to the stadium later that night and after we finished our work for the day, we came face to face with tension once again, this time at night and behind two rows of heavily armored police.
Reporter Jeff Semple and I approached slowly and quietly from behind the line and thankfully, one officer holding a riot shield stepped aside to let us pass. The officer in the next row did the same and from there, we made our way onto another quiet, dark street.
Read More: Translators help Global News team cover Summer Games
Jeff took the laptop and ran up the street to try and acquire a signal for our feed, while I gathered up the rest of the equipment. I tried to keep up but I struggled as I carried three backpacks, a brief case, a tripod and a heavy camera. Alone. Again. At night.
This time, I spotted 10 police officers standing outside of a bar and each one of them greeted me with a smile. Jeff wasn’t far ahead of me so we quickly hopped into a cab, met up with Filipe and headed home. With this job comes the responsibility of meeting strict deadlines, telling compelling stories and keeping each other safe. So far so good.
Comments