WATCH: News Crew Attacked During Attempt to Cover Unrest in South Beach

A local CBS crew in Miami was attacked on Wednesday as they attempted to film unrest in South Beach.

The incident happened as CBS4 reporter Bobeth Yates and photographer Ebenezer Mends were attempting to film a story about the city commission passing a law to prohibit alcohol sales after 2 a.m. The pair were recording an altercation between two men when a group of their associates turned their attention to the journalists. One of them attempted to knock the camera from Mends’ hands, prompting Yates to call police.

“The first hit came when we tried to kind of block the camera, and I kind of stood in between everything, because they really started coming on to Ebenezer and attacking him, and at one point, maybe four or five people surrounded him,” Yates said. “At that point, I kind of got involved and tried to push them back, they tried to hit me, and then went over my head to attack Ebenezer and the camera.”

“That’s expensive equipment,” anchor Eliott Rodriguez noted.

“Yes, they also threw a bottle of liquid, what I believe was some sort of alcohol, because it was literally burning our skin, my eyes,” Yates replied. “And yes, the camera is very expensive. We’re told that it has some damage. We don’t know the extent of the damage.”

Yates said she was “shaken” and had “never been attacked like this on a story” in 20 years of reporting.

Watch above via CBS4.