MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - US President Barack Obama has criticized police for the arrest of journalists while they were filing the reports about the riots in Ferguson, Missouri.
“And here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who were just trying to do their jobs and report to the American people on what they see on the ground,” Obama said in his address Thursday.
“There's also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their first amendment rights," he added.
Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan J. Reilly were taken into custody by local police late Wednesday as they were filing reports on demonstrations over the fatal police shooting of a black teenager Michael Brown.
“I’ve already tasked the Department of Justice and the FBI to independently investigate the death of Michael Brown,” Obama said urging not to use the tragedy “as a cover for vandalism or looting.”
The protests in Ferguson are staged in response to a Saturday incident in which a police officer fatally wounded unarmed 18-year old teenager Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb.
