Free Press, which has been keeping track of journalists detained in connection with the "Occupy" protests, claims that number is pushing 50 with the arrest of six journalists in Oakland, Calif., over the weekend, including broadcast and print journalists, freelancers and those working for organizations, including Mother Jones and KGO Radio.
"While most of the attention surrounding journalist arrests at Occupy protests has focused on New York City, these arrests in Oakland remind us that this is a national issue," said Free Press' Josh Stearns, journalism and public media campaign director, in a statement Monday.
The group says journalists have been arrested in 10 cities over the course of the protests in 2011 and 2012. Both the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Reporters Without Borders have also criticized the detentions and confrontations, which left one TV cameraman with a concussion during one Occupy Wall Street protest last fall.
