Report: Icelandic singer Bjork attacked photographer

Jan 13, 2008, 22:41 GMT

09/08/2007 - Bjork - Virgin Festival Toronto Island Park Sept. 8,2007 - Virgin Mobile Stage - Toronto Island Park, Toronto Canada © Daniel Locke / PR Photos

Wellington - Iceland singer-songwriter Bjork attacked a photographer, ripping his shirt in half, after he snapped her early- morning arrival at Auckland International Airport, a newspaper reported Monday.

Glenn Jeffrey, a 25-year veteran news cameraman, said that Bjork fell to the ground after attacking him when she flew in Sunday morning for an Auckland music festival, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Jeffrey said that Bjork was accompanied by a man who asked him not take photographs.

'I took a couple of pictures, and I got about three or four frames of her, ... and as I turned and walked away she came up behind me, grabbed the back of my black skivvy and tore it down the back,' Jeffrey said.

'As she did this she fell over. She fell to the ground. At no stage did I touch her or speak with her.'

Jeffrey said Bjork said nothing, but the man with her was saying: 'B, don't do this, B, don't do this.'

The paper said that Jeffrey spoke to New Zealand police about the incident, saying, 'I don't see being assaulted as I'm working as a press photographer as an acceptable thing. If anybody assaults anybody, you have the right to a legal recourse, whoever they are.'

The Herald said it was the second time the singer had attacked a journalist - the last time in 1996 after a long flight to Thailand. Bjork later apologized for the attack, which is now posted on the YouTube website.