COPS have detained a CNN reporter live on-air as he covered the tense Los Angeles protests.
Anchor Laura Coates yelled out, “What’s going on?” after watching national correspondent Jason Carroll being led away with his hands behind his back.
Carroll was reporting on the ongoing protests related to Donald Trump’s immigration policies, particularly on the fourth day of the demonstrations when he lost contact with Coates on Thursday evening.
“Jason? What’s going on? I hear you. What happened Jason?” Coates said live on air.
“I am being detained,” said Carroll in the distance as his cameraman filmed several feet behind him.
Carroll then chatted with the cops, who confirmed that he wasn’t being arrested.
“We’re letting you go, but you can’t come back,” said the officer before threatening to arrest Carroll if he returned to the scene.
The two appeared to have a friendly interaction before Carroll was put behind a wall of cops and lost touch with Coates.
Later, Carroll explained that the officers didn’t put him in zip ties but did grab both of his hands and told him, “you are being detained.”
The reporter was stunned by the sudden change as he had been roaming the streets of Los Angeles covering the protests since that morning.
“It is something that I wasn’t expecting simply because we have been out here all day,” he said.
“Normally, the officers […] realize the press is there doing a job.”
Carroll was led away around the same time that officials told demonstrators that they had to leave or else they would be arrested.
They cuffed a number of protesters and charged them with failure to disperse to finally break up Thursday’s demonstration.
PROTESTS RAGE ON
The protests began escalating after Trump deployed approximately 2,000 National Guard troops to assist in maintaining order. This move came despite California Governor Gavin Newsom’s cautionary message to the President.
Newsom claims that the peaceful protests criticizing Trump’s immigration crackdown turned into a protest once the troops arrived.
On the other hand, Trump has defended his actions, stating that Los Angeles would have faced severe destruction if he had not intervened by dispatching troops. Additionally, he revealed plans to send 700 Marines to the city.
“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning.
California has filed a lawsuit against Trump, accusing him of breaking the 10th Amendment when he sent in the guard.
The protests have spawned more protests across the country, and hundreds of participants have been arrested.
Trump has vowed to maintain law and order despite Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass begging him to pause the ICE raids.
“There is a real fear in Los Angeles right now. Parents, workers, grandparents, young people scared to go about their daily lives,” she said.
“We are a city of immigrants. Washington is attacking our people, our neighborhoods and our economy.”
