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Civil unrest in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd has been met with a harsh police response.
A CNN camera crew, covering the riots live on the air, found this out first hand when Black reporter Omar Jimenez was arrested by Minnesota State Police during the broadcast for no apparent reason.
You can watch the entire clip here:
Minnesota police arrest CNN reporter and camera crew as they report from protests in Minneapolis… https://t.co/wGI9BPQ66B— New Day (@New Day)1590748012.0
Meanwhile, CNN's White reporter on the ground was unchallenged by the police.
A CNN reporter & his production team were arrested this morning in Minneapolis for doing their jobs, despite identi… https://t.co/sZ6iJWfHhI— CNN Communications (@CNN Communications)1590749498.0
Jimenez's team was released from police custody two hours later with the state's governor, Democrat Tim Waltz, taking full responsibility for the incident.
Live now on CNN as reported by @JohnBerman: CNN president Jeff Zucker spoke to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz who apologiz… https://t.co/wCs6X6Cj73— Abby D. Phillip (@Abby D. Phillip)1590750997.0
CNN’s @OmarJimenez and his crew have been released from police custody. He recounts getting arrested and what happe… https://t.co/wATYcKBTTW— CNN (@CNN)1590753489.0
The Minnesota State Patrol issued a statement via Twitter saying they had released Jimenez as soon as they verified his press credentials.
In the course of clearing the streets and restoring order at Lake Street and Snelling Avenue, four people were arre… https://t.co/McGQ2VJIRy— MN State Patrol (@MN State Patrol)1590753619.0
CNN was quick to dispute this claim—Jimenez offered his credentials live on the air, while people everywhere watched.
Twitter's blood was boiling over the overtly unjust arrest.
The Minnesota State Patrol just arrested my colleague @CNN correspondent @OmarJimenez and his team for doing their… https://t.co/d0kv3ksXfR— Poppy Harlow (@Poppy Harlow)1590747547.0
Oh. My. God. CNN’s correspondent @OmarJimenez has just been arrested live on air https://t.co/xCe0Y9gxa8— Ashlee Mullany (@Ashlee Mullany)1590747264.0
Clearly, the only thing on these officers' minds was sending a message, regardless of who was watching or whether Jimenez had done anything wrong.
Wow. Police in Minneapolis just arrested @OmarJimenez live on CNN. What is going on?? Our camera crew and Omar's p… https://t.co/Lu0d00rIOU— Abby D. Phillip (@Abby D. Phillip)1590747222.0
Man they just arrested @OmarJimenez live on tv.— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari Sellers)1590747166.0
They arrested that black reporter live on air because they want everyone to know they don’t care who’s watching— Tom Fattah (@Tom Fattah)1590765786.0
Everyone who saw the clip, including celebrities, were outraged.
Terrifying and awful. https://t.co/FgWjZe3JCO— Kumail Nanjiani (@Kumail Nanjiani)1590767509.0
Since there's been some confusion on this point the past couple of days, this is what restricting someone's First A… https://t.co/ckx0Kq1xib— James Poniewozik (@James Poniewozik)1590759822.0
Y’all can arrest a black CNN reporter and his cameraman for no apparent reason but can’t arrest a one of your own w… https://t.co/3eyoWZgOaQ— Matthew A. Cherry (@Matthew A. Cherry)1590748564.0
It seems the Minnesota State Police believe they can act with impunity and arrest whoever they want for no reason. This should frighten everyone who holds their freedom in high regard.