By Ingrid Bachmann
Reuters photographer Jorge Silva was attacked and arrested by United Nations security and Mexican federal police when covering a protest of environmentalists at the United Nations Climate CHange Conference, COP-16, in Cancun, Mexico, reported El Diario de Yucatán and El Universal.
According to EFE, Silva remained detained for a little more than an hour and was released by Mexican police. The photographer said that during the protest one of the U.N. police officers took away his press credentials and refused to return them.
The incident occurred at the entrance of the building where the summit was going on, according to Noroeste. In light of the police actions, other photographers decided to stop covering the conference, considering the incident an attack on freedom of expression.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
