Skylar Martin Peak, 24, and Philip John Hildebrand, 30, both of Malibu, were each charged with one misdemeanor count of battery for attacking Richid Altmbareckouhammou, who was working for a French news agency, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said.

Officials claim the two men threw Altmbareckouhammou into the water from where he was taking pictures on the beach. Each faces up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

That bullied photographer Richid Altmbareckouhammou (ri-CHEED AHL-tem-ba- REK-oo-HAM-moo) went through with a legal action sends a strong message to other surfers who think such matters can be solved with a sandy flip-flop shoved down a throat: So long as the public thirsts for images of McConaughey teaching his newborn son Levi the delicate art of the schnot shot while paddling out to shore, there will be paparazzo dug into the sand to capture such tender moments of celebrity/nature communion.

• Two Malibu men charged with attacking paparazzo [Reuters]

A cyber-rumble has erupted on the Web site of the X17 photo agency, where video of the attack was posted. More than 1,000 angry back-and-forth comments between the lensmen and the surfers have been logged, including one urging paparazzi to "rendezvous next Saturday in the same spot. 50 paps are going to meet u there. Good luck and enjoy the high waves.

A surfer responds, "Bring it on, paps. It will be the end for you on the beach. Saturday is on." [...]

The surfers are mostly white Malibu residents, while many of the paparazzi are immigrants; some speculate that some of the paps are former gang members. But their inside perspective on celebrity culture is priceless: "I'm a pap," writes one. "I've made $94K a year and I'm only four months into it ... because stupid white trash people like your fat mother buy the magazines. We hunt the very people you worship for no reason."

While the surfers appear to have the paps outmatched in sheer brawn and numbers, we'd not count out the triumph of the paparazzo spirit, particularly once their adolescent leader—Austin Visschedyk, Kid Pap—climbs atop atop a sandy embankment to deliver for his comrades a call to arms for the ages: "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end of PCH. We shall snap Mischa, we shall snap her cottage cheese legs on the seas and the oceans, we shall capture with growing confidence and growing strength the parking lot scene outside Malibu Country Mart, we shall defend our territory outside Social and Green Door, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the private beaches, we shall fight on the sidewalks outside Les Deux, we shall fight on the Urth Cafe terrace and at Teddy's, we shall fight in the Hollywood Hills; we shall never surrender!"

• Matthew McConaughey in surfers-vs.-paparazzi brawl in Malibu [NYDailynews]

"They formed a semicircle in front of his camera and they said they didn't want him to film," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore. "They got into an argument, and he indicated that he received injuries. . . . [They] took the video camera and threw it in the water." [...]

One of the group of apparent paparazzi on the x17online video appeared to argue with the surfers, saying that the beach was public property and he had every right to be there.

"This is public property, this is public property," he said.

The video then shows two beachgoers chasing one of the paparazzi, dragging him into the water and kicking him.

Two videos from the event—one from TMZ.com, above, and another at X17online.com—demonstrate the extreme lengths to which this Brotherhood of Drunk Beach Assholes Doing Righteously By Their Superstar Brah will go towards safeguarding McConaughey's access to the epic waves that sate his untamable, surf-hungry spirit. The battle has only begun.

• Paparazzo says surfers in Malibu attacked him [LAT]