http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100323201503322C505004

eNews journo arrested in Durban
March 23 2010 at 08:16PM

An eNews journalist was arrested in Durban on Tuesday while covering a protest by nurses employed by the city council, the channel said.

“eNews will lodge an official complaint of wrongful arrest with eThekwini authorities following the arrest of reporter Morgan Collins,” group news head Patrick Conroy said in a statement.

Collins was reportedly standing on a sidewalk when metro police gave him “five seconds” to leave.

“eNews is concerned that metro police officers did not show due regard for the law or the rights of journalists covering events in the public interest. The detention of Morgan Collins was unnecessary, unreasonable and unacceptable in a democratic South Africa.”

Collins was later released on a warning.

Ethekwini Metro police Superintendent Joyce Khuzwayo said Collins refused to leave the site of an illegal gathering.

“The nurses and council workers were given an order to leave the premises before the TV crew arrived because their protest was illegal, but they resisted.

“When the journalist arrived, he was told that this was an illegal gathering and ordered to leave, as the rest of the protesters were.”

When Collins refused he was arrested with the protesters.

Democratic Alliance spokesman Heinz de Boer said the detention of a journalist was part of an extensive history by both metro police and the SAPS of detaining, harassing and threatening journalists and photographers.

“We will not allow them to act unlawfully by making up the rules as they go. Citizens of this country and the media are subject to the laws of the country, but the police equally need to act within these laws.” – Sapa