Global outcry after CNN reporter arrested live on air during George Floyd protests

A US police force has been condemned across the world after officers arrested a news crew live on air.

CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez, producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez were taken into custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at around 10am UK time (5am local time) on Friday.

They had been reporting on heated protests in the city following the death of George Floyd – an unarmed black man who died after his neck was knelt on by a white police officer for almost 10 minutes on Monday.

The trio were released around an hour later.

Before his arrest on Friday, Mr Jimenez, who is also black, identified himself as a reporter, showing officers a CNN badge and telling them “wherever you want us (we’ll) get out of your way”.

However, in a tweet, Minnesota State Patrol said the three “were released once they were confirmed to be members of the media”.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz spoke to CNN president Jeff Zucker and said he “deeply apologised” for what happened, describing the arrests as “unacceptable”.

Mr Jimenez was back on CNN explaining what happened later on Friday, and described the experience as “nerve-wracking”.

“The one thing that gave me a little bit of comfort was that it happened on live TV,” he said.

“The country was seeing what was happening in real-time right before their eyes, you don’t have to doubt my story, it’s not filtered in any sort of way … but it certainly was nerve-wracking at certain points.”

George Floyd Protests - In pictures

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In a statement, the UK Foreign Office said: “We understand that the journalists have been released and the Governor has apologised for the arrest.

“As we’ve said before, journalists all round the world must be free to do their job and hold authorities to account without fear of retribution.”

He tweeted: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen… any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Twitter later added a notice to Mr Trump’s tweet stating that it violated the website’s rules regarding the “glorification of violence”.

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