“All media please move to the designated area.”
“Let’s not glamorize the acts of criminals,” he said.
Moments before a press conference early Tuesday, Johnson told CNN: “I’m hoping when I’m done with that briefing, the press and I are still friends.”
In the past 11 days, the media, whose ranks have swelled into the hundreds, have taken heat from law enforcement officials who have asked them to leave — while some protesters have asked them to stay.
Police: “MEDIA, GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Young guy: “MEDIA, STAND WITH US.”
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 20, 2014
Handful of teens – “don’t let them shoot us” refusing to leave media area.
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 20, 2014
A total of at least 11 journalists covering the Ferguson protests have been arrested, according to CNN, starting with Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly.
Early Wednesday, Lowery estimated that the size of the group protesting and the media covering it was about even — between 100 and 150 of each.
Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce said the media have inadvertently created issues.
.@trymainelee says, and I agree, that media has become an accelerant at this point.
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 20, 2014
Still, Lowery said reporters were behaving themselves.
No media member has done anything to get in way of law enforcement. They’ve given contradictory instructions and then gotten physical
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 20, 2014
But they faced reprisals anyway.
Reporter face down in road being arrested. Tried to take picture. Officer shoves me
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 20, 2014
Lowery reported that, after a bottle was thrown at police early Wednesday, police aggressively attempted to separate the media from the remaining protesters, who likely numbered just over a hundred.
Police ordered media into a staging area and told remaining residents to walk in the other direction. Some residents refused. At that point, a team of officers stormed into the media pen with weapons drawn and made arrests.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald Johnson later said officers moved in as the alleged agitators “hid behind the media for protection.”
Officers then escorted the media down West Florissant Avenue. Protesters surrounded the pack. Police threatened them to get them to move.
Ultimately, officers got the group to the McDonalds parking lot where they were able to convince the last remaining protesters to disperse just before 1:30 a.m.