Pulitzer Prize winning photographer arrested in World Bank protests
| NMU | WASHINGTON, D.C. | Press at Home & Abroad | Apr 17, 2000 |
Pulitzer Prize winning photographer arrested in World Bank protests
- A Washington Post photographer was arrested and detained while covering protests in Washington, while two AP journalists were struck with batons.
A Washington Post photographer was arrested and detained as police arrested more than 600 protesters marching near the Washington, D.C., offices of the World Bank on April 15. Two journalists for the Associated Press also reported being struck by police with batons.
Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Carol Guzy was among a group of photographers covering what D.C. police called an “unlicenced parade” protesting World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies during those groups’ spring meeting in Washington.
Guzy momentarily moved away from the group and was seized by a police officer. She and Associated Press photographer, Kamenko Pajic, were taken from the protest area into a cordoned off section where Guzy was arrested and handcuffed. Pajic photographed the arrest.
Pajic told the Associated Press he was unsure what prompted Guzy’s arrest and noted that she was wearing her press credentials. The Post reported that an officer twisted Guzy’s arm and arrested her after she complained. She was later held in a bus and in a cell before being released at 12:30 a.m. Sunday with all charges dropped. She told National Public Radio on Sunday afternoon that newspaper officials had intervened to secure her release.
The Associated Press also confirmed that an AP Radio reporter was struck by police, and a freelance photographer working with the service was reportedly knocked unconscious and treated at a hospital for a head wound.
Guzy received the third Pulitzer Prize of her career just days before the protest for her coverage of the lives of refugees during the war in Kosovo and as they returned to their destroyed towns.
Guzy and D.C. police officials were not available for comment. Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. said in the Post report that he was “very alarmed” that Guzy had been arrested.
Asked about the arrests of non-demonstrators, including tourists other bystanders, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Terrance Gainer told one reporter, “To the extent we arrested a person that shouldn’t have been, I apologize.”
Protestors involved in the parade were charged with conducting a parade without a license.
“They were peaceful at first and we simply monitored them, but at one point they became disorderly and were told that they would have to cease the parade,” Police Chief Charles Ramsey said at a news conference. “They were given warnings and refused to do so.”
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