Two members of a Reuters TV crew were hit by rubber bullets and a photographer's camera was smashed in Minneapolis on Saturday night, the news agency reported.

Footage taken by cameraman Julio-Cesar Chavez showed a police officer aiming directly at him as police fired rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters in the southwest of the city shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew, according to Reuters.

"A police officer that I'm filming turns around points his rubber-bullet rifle straight at me," said Chavez.             

Minutes later, Chavez and Reuters security advisor Rodney Seward were struck by rubber bullets as they took cover at a nearby gas station.

Attacks and assaults on to journalists covering the George Floyd protests in the U.S. have intensified as demonstrations raged across the U.S. There have been about ten reported incidents of journalists getting injured or threatened, according to incomplete statistics.

In Louisville, Kentucky, a riot-squad policeman fired what appeared to be pepper spray pellets at a local TV crew.

"I'm getting shot!" Kaitlin Rust, a reporter at TV channel WAVE-3 cried out on camera.

In Minneapolis, freelance journalist Linda Tirado was struck in the left eye by a rubber bullet fired by police. She later said on Twitter that she had permanently lost vision in that eye.

CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his crew were arrested by the Minneapolis police on live television early Friday morning while covering the protests. They were later released from custody. 

Around 4,000 people have been arrested across the U.S. since the death of George Floyd triggered days of nationwide protests, according to CNN's tally.  

(With inputs from agencies)