While reporting at Merle Hay Mall, a site with protestors in Des Moines Sunday afternoon, Des Moines Register reporter Andrea May Sahouri was pepper sprayed and arrested even though she identified herself as a reporter to the officer.
She posted a video on her Twitter account earlier today from inside a cop car.
“I said I’m press, I’m press, I’m press and the police deliberately choked me, put pepper spray on my face and put me in Zip ties” she said on the Twitter video.
— Andrea May Sahouri (@andreamsahouri) June 1, 2020
Sahouri is one of the few women of color covering the protests for the local media.
Other journalists reporting in the same area were not arrested.
Today is the third day in a row that the city of Des Moines has been experiencing civil unrest and the PD have faced off with protectors using riot gear, tear gas and pepper spray.
UPDATE: The Des Moines Police Department said they will not release Andrea May Sahouri until Monday morning.Â
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