WASHINGTON, 13 July. - (ANA) - The British ambassador to the US has launched an official complaint over the arrest of an Independent journalist covering protests in Seattle. Karen Pierce’s protest was registered with senior levels of the State Department and the White House was informed, following the arrest of the chief US correspondent of the British daily. 

 

Andrew Buncombe was shackled, assaulted and detained for more than six hours after being accused of “failing to disperse” in Seattle. He denies committing an offence but now faces a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 (£4,000) fine. 

 

Mr Buncombe was covering the police operation to clear the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest ⁠– where an area of Seattle had been occupied by demonstrators since early June.

 

The journalist wrote that he was arrested five minutes after arriving at Cal Anderson Park by an officer who told him to stop taking photographs and leave.

 

He was handcuffed, shackled and taken into custody at the West Precinct station, where he described crowded and unsanitary conditions despite the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Mr Buncombe said he was assaulted by a guard, while other inmates said they had been threatened, mistreated or accused of crimes they did not commit.

 

He said he was alone at the time of his arrest, remained on the correct side of a police cordon, repeatedly identified himself as a journalist and showed his press badge issued by the State Department’s Foreign Press Centres.

 

The arrest sparked international condemnation, amid concern over police action against more than 60 other journalists covering George Floyd protests in the US and Donald Trump’s anti-media rhetoric.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/13 July 2020 - - -