Riot police detain CNN reporter live on air during L.A. protests
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A CNN journalist was briefly detained by police in Los Angeles as he reported live from the city streets.
Correspondent Jason Carroll was covering the protests against immigration enforcement and the ensuing unrest, which began on Friday and continued for a fourth night on Monday.
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Carroll’s exchange with in-studio anchors was briefly lost before he was seen being led away from where he was stationed with his hands behind his back.
Carroll managed to inform the anchors what was going on: “I am being detained.”
An officer then can be heard telling Carroll, “We’re letting you go. You can’t come back. If you come back, you will be arrested.”
Carroll then thanked the officers after being left behind the police perimeter.
“I was called over, and the officer told me to put my hands behind my back. I said, ‘Am I being arrested?’ and he said, ‘You are being detained,’” Carroll explained.
He later added that he clarified to the officer that he was with CNN, to no avail.
“They did not put me in zip ties, but they did grab both my hands as I was escorted over to the side,” he detailed.
“They said you are being detained while we lead you out of this area. You are not allowed to be in this area.”
Carroll added: “It is something that I wasn’t expecting simply because we’ve been out here all day, we have covered any number of protests and normally the officers realize the press is there doing a job.”
Trump deployed on Monday another 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to L.A. amid earlier violent outbreaks during four days of protests over the president’s stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws.
Monday’s demonstrations — largely centred in several downtown blocks — were less raucous, with thousands peacefully attending a rally at City Hall and hundreds protesting outside a federal complex that includes a detention centre where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids across the city.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms, claiming the city would have been “completely obliterated” if he had not deployed the Guard.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass countered that the president is putting public safety at risk by adding military personnel when LAPD say they don’t need the help.
“This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego,” Newsom wrote on X.
“This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.”
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On Sunday, a journalist for Australia’s 9News was hit by a nonlethal round during a live report from the protests.
Lauren Tomasi later confirmed to the studio that she and her cameraman were both safe.
Tomasi added: “This is just one of the unfortunate realities of reporting on these kinds of incidents.”
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