MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Ferguson, Missouri, has released Getty Images photographer Scott Olson, who was arrested on Monday while covering the protests, the photo agency’s vice president of news Pancho Bernasconi said in a statement.
“Getty Images staff photographer Scott Olson, who was arrested this afternoon in Ferguson, Missouri, while on assignment, has been released,” the statement said.
“I want to be able to do my job as a member of the media and not be arrested for just doing my job,” Scott Olson told Bernasconi, according to the statement.
The vice president added that Getty Images condemned Scott’s detention.
“Getty Images condemns Scott’s arrest and is committed to ensuring that he and our other photographer colleagues are able to report this important story,” Bernasconi said.
According to Olson, he was arrested because police "said the media is required to be in a certain area.”
On Wednesday, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly were taken into custody by local police as they were covering demonstrations at Ferguson McDonalds.
Reporters Without Borders condemned the arrest of two journalists covering the protests in Ferguson, MO, and demanded the investigation of the law enforcement actions.
Some police officers have also been captured on video threatening to shoot one journalist and mace another.
The protests in Ferguson began following the August 9 tragedy, when a police officer shot dead Michael Brown, an African-American teenager. The incident spurred a week of mass protests in the city. Several people were injured in clashes with police that used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the angry crowd.
