Contacts:
Daniel Lathrop 206-718-0349
InvestigateWest photographer detained in Copenhagen
SEATTLE — A journalist on assignment for InvestigateWest to cover
protests outside the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen
was arrested Tuesday — the second time he has been arrested while
photographing demonstrators. This time, demonstrators were attempting
to enter Copenhagen’s Bella Center, the site of the international
climate talks.
Christopher Crow of Bellingham was taken into custody by police, who
are empowered under a new law to hold demonstrators for up to 12 hours
without filing charges. He was arrested at about Noon local time and
remained in custody as of 6 PM local time.
Crow was previously arrested Sunday and released after 3 ½ hours
without any charges being filed.
In both cases, the officers took Crow away despite the fact that he is
a credentialed journalist carrying out his duty as to document the
unrest in the streets and not a participant in the demonstrations.
Demonstrators are angry about an emerging United Nations treaty that
would allow some companies to profit from fighting climate change.
After his first arrest, InvestigateWest executive director and editor
Rita Hibbard had issued the following statement:
“This is an outrageous affront to the freedom of the press. Reporters
are obligated to cover civil disturbances like the protests in
Copenhagen, and police who arrest journalists are violating their
human rights. Christopher and InvestigateWest are owed an apology by the
Danish authorities and we will be filing a formal protest.”
Members of the InvestigateWest team in Copenhagen available for
interviews via Skype. Chief environmental
correspondent Robert McClure, who is editing the Copenhagen coverage,
is available for phone or in-person interviews.
For coverage of Chris’ arrest and other news from Copenhagen, please
see https://www.invw.org/tags/COP15
InvestigateWest is a non-profit investigative journalism organization
based in Seattle. Its journalists are working to modernize
investigative and in-depth journalism, focusing on the environment,
public health and social justice in western North America, with a
particular emphasis on the Pacific Northwest. InvestigateWest also
offers a daily environmental blog, Dateline Earth, that covers a wide
range of environmental issues around the globe, frequently including
news about climate change.
-30-
 Reply |
Forward |
