Officers arrested a correspondent, Omar Jimenez, as he and a camera crew were reporting on the protests over the death of George Floyd.
A CNN reporting team was arrested live on television early Friday while covering the protests in Minneapolis, an extraordinary interference with freedom of the press that drew outrage from First Amendment advocates and a swift apology from Minnesota’s governor.
The CNN crew, led by the correspondent Omar Jimenez, was released by the police in Minneapolis after spending about an hour in custody. In the moments before the 5 a.m. arrest, Mr. Jimenez could be heard calmly identifying himself as a reporter and offering to move to wherever he and his team were directed.
“Put us back where you want us, we are getting out of your way, just let us know,” Mr. Jimenez told the police officers, who were outfitted in riot gear, as the network’s camera broadcast the exchange in real-time. “Wherever you’d want us, we will go.”
Instead, he and his team — Bill Kirkos, a producer, and Leonel Mendez, a camera operator — had their hands bound behind their backs.
Their camera was placed on the ground, still rolling; CNN anchors watching from New York sounded stunned as they reported on their colleagues’ arrests.
It is common in autocratic countries for journalists to be swept up in arrests during protests and riots, but rare in the United States, where news gathering is protected by the First Amendment.
