(Saint Paul) American journalist Don Lemon, former CNN presenter prosecuted for covering a demonstration in a church in January on the sidelines of the protests in Minneapolis, pleaded not guilty on Friday to violating freedom of worship.
Published at
Don Lemon was among nine people, including another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, arrested and charged following a protest on January 18 at a church in Saint Paul, the sister city of Minneapolis, in the northern United States.
Organizers chose to target this location because a local Immigration Enforcement (ICE) official serves as pastor there.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced at the end of January that she had personally ordered several of these arrests, including those of the two journalists, while Minneapolis had become the epicenter of hostility to the repressive migration policy of the Donald Trump administration.
Don Lemon livestreamed this activist action during which participants disrupted Sunday services, chanting anti-ICE slogans, according to the indictment.
“This is not just about me, but about all journalists, especially here in the United States,” he said after the hearing in Saint Paul.
“Like all of you courageous Minnesotans here, I will not be intimidated. I will not give in. I will defend myself against these baseless accusations and I will not allow myself to be silenced,” said Don Lemon.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced “a blatant attack” against the press.
Tensions in Minneapolis, targeted by massive operations to arrest illegal immigrants, had reached their peak after the death on January 7 of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, then on January 24 of Alex Pretti, a nurse of the same age, killed by federal agents.
President Donald Trump sent his head of deportation policy, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis following this second death to try to restore calm.
Mr. Homan announced Thursday that the operation launched at the end of December was about to end, reporting a toll of “4,000 illegal foreigners arrested” in more than two months.
