Two reporters from Knock LA were detained by Los Angeles police while covering the protest in Echo Park Thursday evening.
“This evening, two Knock LA reporters, Jonathan Peltz and Kate Gallagher, were arrested by the LAPD while covering a peaceful protest vigil in Echo Park,” a statement from the website said. “We are calling for their immediately release, and further demand that any charges against them are dropped.
“Law enforcement cannot be allowed to jail journalists for doing their job.”
Details of why the reporters were detained were not immediately available.
A dispersal order was issued about 8:30 p.m. by the Los Angeles Police Department after an unlawful assembly was declared in the area of Lemoyne Street and Park Avenue, the sit of an entrance to Echo Park, due to people in the large crowd using powerful lasers in an attempt to blind officers.
The department later tweeted “members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders.”