Tensions ran high over the weekend, as residents in Ferguson, Missouri, await word on whether a grand jury will indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
Anticipating large-scale demonstrations, authorities set up barricades around the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton, Missouri, where the grand jury has been meeting. Meanwhile, protesters gathered outside the Ferguson police station.
Back in riot gear and a line. The cops seemed like they were actually attempting peace for a min there #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/1Ct4F70BCw— Cassandra (@CassandraRules) November 23, 2014
On Saturday night, police in Ferguson cautioned protesters not to enter the street and disrupt traffic, but some disregarded the warning, and blocked several cars. Officers ended up arresting two people, according to St. Louis County Police spokesperson Brian Schellman.
Police arrested Trey Yingst, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, according to reports. Yingst became the 23rd journalist to be arrested in Ferguson since August when protests first erupted following Brown's death, according to a tally by the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
@TreyYingst reporter from D.C. taken into custody for failure to disperse. Was asked to leave street by the commander and refused. #Ferguson— St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) November 23, 2014
Yingst was released a few hours later.
Just released from Clayton County jail after being arrested for exercising my 1st amendment rights on a public sidewalk. @news_2_share— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) November 23, 2014
Meanwhile, CNN reported on Sunday that several television anchors, including NBC's Matt Lauer, ABC's George Stephanopoulos, CBS' Scott Pelley and CNN's Anderson Cooper have secretly met with Wilson to try to convince him to grant them an interview. Wilson hasn't been seen in public since Aug. 9, when he shot and killed Brown.
Cooper and Don Lemon, also from CNN, confirmed the report on Twitter.
Darren Wilson chose not to do an interview with me. I continue to hope to interview anyone with information about this tragedy.— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 23, 2014
For those asking, yes I met with Darren Wilson regarding an interview. Not out of the ordinary. @CNNTonight @brianstelter— Don Lemon (@donlemon) November 23, 2014
As CNN reporter Brian Stelter noted, these meetings are a customary part of booking a guest on television -- a fact that both Cooper and Lemon also underscored.
I'd also like to intv the grand jury. There is no conspiracy here. Reporters want to intv people and sometimes you have to meet them first— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 23, 2014
For those asking, yes I met with Darren Wilson regarding an interview. Not out of the ordinary. @CNNTonight @brianstelter— Don Lemon (@donlemon) November 23, 2014
We've interviewed the Brown family, Dorian Johnson & all witnesses. Of course we'd want to interview Wilson. @CNNTonight @brianstelter— Don Lemon (@donlemon) November 23, 2014
But as Erik Wemple explained in a Washington Post piece, while courting Wilson is okay, the fact that the meetings were kept secret is probably not, and the anchors should have disclosed that.
"What the television networks have done here is to bind themselves to a more restrictive, more censorious version of 'off the record,'" wrote Wemple. "A more gross one, too. That Wilson would be absenting himself from official court testimony while shopping his story around to TV network types is enormous news in and of itself -- perhaps as big as what he might eventually say in the sit-down interview."
Additional reporting by The Associated Press