Charlotte Lynch has shared her experience of being arrested by Herts Police whilst covering a protest on the M25.
The reporter was on a bridge when the incident happened, with Police reportedly handcuffing Charlotte without accepting she was a legitimate working journalist and not part of the demonstration.
Charlotte, who has been a journalist for the last five years, said she was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance.
In a tweet this morning, she said: “I showed my press card, and I was handcuffed almost immediately. My phone was snatched out of my hand. I was searched twice, held in a cell for 5 hours, and I wasn’t questioned whilst in custody.”
Charlotte was searched and had all of her devices taken off her before being put in a custody van and taken to a Police cell, searched again, mug shot taken and DNA samples given.
You can hear her story during a segment with Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning.
Charlotte also appeared on LBC to chat to James O’Brien about the event.
The day before, a documentary filmmaker and a press photographer were also arrested on the same basis and held for 13 hours. They caught some of their arrest on camera.
Hertfordshire Constabulary released a statement on Tuesday evening saying: “..as a matter of course we do not comment on the circumstances surrounding individual arrests, these circumstances did give us grounds to hold them in custody for questioning in order to verify their credentials and progress our investigation.”
This was followed up by an additional statement on Wednesday from Chief Constable Charlie Hill who said “additional measures are now in place to ensure that legitimate media are able to do their job”.
Starting to dawn on Hertfordshire Police that they screwed up when they arrested @charlotterlynch yesterday and put her in a cell for five hours.
The force “recognises the concerns over the recent arrests of journalists”.
Statement: pic.twitter.com/QlNoaG7BuX
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) November 9, 2022
Lib Dem deputy leader @libdemdaisy – also MP for St Albans – has written to @HertsPolice demanding an investigation into the arrests of journalists at Just Stop Oil protests at M25 junctions in her constituency. pic.twitter.com/xu79xVFyEu
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) November 9, 2022
I shared my experience with @NickFerrariLBC this morning. https://t.co/IXDhn9FMKG
— Charlotte Lynch (@charlotterlynch) November 9, 2022
'The idea of a journalist being arrested for doing journalism is something that should strike a chill into everybody's heart.'
James O'Brien hits out at the arrest of LBC Reporter Charlotte Lynch while covering an eco-protest.@mrjamesob | @charlotterlynch pic.twitter.com/Z27xv4Xscf
— LBC (@LBC) November 9, 2022
Radiodays Europe is happening in March 2025 - use code RTY25ATH to get a discount and join us in Athens! More..
Posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 at 4:04 pm by Roy Martin