Chicago Police Arrest Several Journalists While Cracking Down On DNC Protest

"Why are you arresting press?" independent reporter Talia Jane and numerous others chanted as police arrested credentialed journalists covering DNC protests

Screen shot from video of photojournalist Josh Pacheco as Chicago police arrested them on August 20. Video from Talia Jane. Donate to Talia.

During the Democratic National Convention, Chicago police aggressively cracked down on a protest outside of the Israeli consulate. Officers carried out a mass arrest that included multiple members of the press, according to several independent reporters that were on the ground. 

Josh Pacheco, a photojournalist from New York City, and Olya Fedorova, a freelance photojournalist, were singled out by police and arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct.” 

Police reportedly damaged Pacheco and Fedorova’s camera equipment during their arrests, and they were released from the Area 3 police station in the early morning after being held in police custody for nearly 10 hours.

Sylvie Evans, a reporter with the Colorado People’s Press, was arrested and released about an hour after Pacheco and Fedorova. Sinna Nasseri, a photographer for the New York Times, Vogue, TIME, the New Yorker, and the Rolling Stone, was also arrested. He was the last arrested journalist to be released. (It was unclear if both were charged with "disorderly conduct" too.)

In total, National Lawyers Guild Chicago said the “repressive police response” resulted in at least 72 arrests. 

Read the full article at The Dissenter