CNN team arrested by Minnesota police on live television - СNN
29.05.2020, 14:47
Photo credit: wave3.com
A CNN crew was arrested by Minnesota state police Friday morning while giving a live television report in Minneapolis, where the crew was covering ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd -- an arrest that has drawn an apology from the state's governor., as CNN reported
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker that he deeply apologizes for what happened, and that he is working to have the CNN crew released immediately.
The crew, including correspondent Omar Jimenez, were handcuffed and detained as Jimenez gave a live report on a Minneapolis street shortly after 5 a.m. CT (6 a.m. ET).
Police told the crew they were being detained because they were told to move, and didn't, one member of the CNN crew relayed to the network.
Officers approached the crew -- which also included producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez -- as they moved in to arrest a protester behind them.
Jimenez could be seen holding his CNN badge while reporting, identifying himself as a reporter, and telling the officers the crew would move wherever officers needed them to. An officer gripped his arm as Jimenez talked, then put him in handcuffs.
"We can move back to where you like. We are live on the air here. ... Put us back where you want us. We are getting out of your way -- wherever you want us (we'll) get out of your way," Jimenez said before he was led away.
"We were just getting out of your way when you were advancing through the intersection," Jimenez said.
After the CNN photographer was arrested, his camera was set on the ground and continued to transmit live images.
Jimenez and the crew had been reporting from the site, near a city police department precinct that protesters had burned and officers had abandoned overnight. About a block away, a fire was burning at a different, four-story building that had contained restaurants.
Over 100 state police officers in body armor and riot gear had arrived shortly before 5 a.m. CT and lined up near the area where the CNN crew was, near the precinct building on East Lake Street.
For a portion of time overnight -- from sometime after city police abandoned the precinct building that was set ablaze -- police weren't in the area until the troopers arrived Friday morning, Jimenez had reported. The four-story event and restaurant building was burning unabated, and people were throwing things into the flames, Jimenez said.
CNN
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