Press Release: Photojournalist freed

Contacts: Daniel Lathrop 206-718-0349

InvestigateWest photographer detained, freed in Copenhagen

SEATTLE -- A  journalist on assignment for InvestigateWest to cover protests outside the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen spent  more than 10 hours in police custody 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 until after 10 pm local time.

Crow was previously arrested Sunday and released after 3 ½ hours without any charges being filed.

"Danish authorities clearly are not respecting the rights of the press to cover the events of the climate summit. In their eagerness to keep order on the street, they are restricting legitimate press coverage of events that citizens across the globe are closely watching," said Rita Hibbard, executive director and editor of InvestigateWest. "For a credentialed journalist to be twice arrested while covering street unrest is clearly an indication that Danish authorities are violating freedom of the press and freedom of speech."

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.

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.

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