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The bodyguards of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were involved in another scandal during his trip to the United States, Sputnik agency reports.

According to the information, as Turkish President delivered a speech before the Brookings Institute on Thursday, a largely peaceful protest assembled outside. To quell the protestors, the embattled leader’s security detail clashed with journalists, in a scene reminiscent of the media crackdown in Ankara.

Turkish journalist Adem Yavuz Arslan told Sputnik that the Brookings Institute staff allowed reporters inside the building to cover the event, "but Erdogan’s bodyguards, they harassed me, they said many bad things, and they threaten me."

But that didn’t entirely prevent the incident. Erdogan’s security detail manhandled journalists, reportedly booting one from the building. Other reports suggest that the Turkish leader’s security personnel kicked a protester and threw a woman to the ground.

Altercations and violence have become a routine during Turkish President foreign visits with the latest example of attacking and beating an Ecuadorian MP and a protester during a visit to that state. The incident caused a huge controversy between the states.  The Ecuadorian National Assembly president condemned the Turkish presidential bodyguards’ violence against the women and the MP.