Ferguson police arrest reporters amid rage over Michael Brown shooting

Two reporters were arrested and teargas was fired at demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday, five nights after an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by an officer from the town’s predominantly white police force.

The Washington Post condemned the detention of its journalist, Wesley Lowery, as “illegal” and an “assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news”. The Huffington Post attacked the arrest of its reporter, Ryan J Reilly, as “militant aggression”. Reilly said that the “police resembled soldiers more than officers”.

The reporters were only freed, apparently, after a journalist from the Los Angeles Times called the Ferguson police chief.

Groups of protesters, demonstrating over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, were confronted by armed police in riot and military gear.

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Pictures taken by photographers and TV camera crews showed police snipers overlooking protesters.

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The Guardian’s Jon Swaine witnessed the arrest of two reporters.

Jon writes:

The two reporters were taken in cuffs from a McDonald’s in downtown Ferguson and placed in an unmarked white police van.

“They’re reporters,” shouted one member of the public, who had also been in the restaurant. Another customer confirmed seeing the pair at work inside. Lowery and Reilly both tweeted about being asked to leave the restaurant moments before they were seen being arrested.

Asked why he was being detained, the first reporter shouted: “For videotaping them.” When I approached a police line in an effort to confirm the reporters’ identities, I was threatened with arrest and told to retreat.

The arrests came as a line of police in riot gear swept eastward along West Florissant street, the main drag in downtown Ferguson where demonstrations have flared for the past three nights. Residents were forced out of the street as they tried to return to their homes.

Jon posted this picture of the arrests.

On Twitter, Lowery and Reilly shared details of their arrests after they were released by police.

After the pair were arrested, Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times called the Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson.

Pearce went on to point out that Jackson had been interviewed earlier in the day by both reporters. From Lowery’s subsequent account, it appears that Jackson intervened and ordered their release.

Other reporters shared video and images live from Ferguson, and there were two live streams covering events as dusk fell.

Marty Baron, executive editor of the Washington Post, condemned the arrests in strong terms. The Post reported:

In a statement issued Wednesday night, Martin D Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, said “there was absolutely no justification for his arrest” and said the organization was appalled by the conduct of the officers involved.

Lowery was illegally instructed to stop taking video and followed police instructions, Baron said, after which he was slammed into a machine and handcuffed.

“That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news,” Baron said. “The physical risk to Wesley himself is obvious and outrageous.”

Earlier, the Guardian’s Jon Swaine posted pictures and video of heavily armed police pushing protesters back down the streets, and an image he believed to be of the two reporters being arrested.

Alderman Antonio French shared a video of prayer in front of police vehicles earlier in the day.

Here’s a Twitter list of useful sources in Ferguson.