Police sift through a homeless encampment in Edmonton on Jan. 8. Photo: APTN file.
An editor with an online media outlet says Edmonton police have arrested one of his reporters as they broke up a homeless encampment.
Ethan Cox of Ricochet Media says the reporter, Brandi Morin, told him from police custody that other people were also arrested in the police action.
Cox says Morin has been covering Edmonton’s response to homeless encampments and was on the scene when police made their latest move.
He says she was arrested after she refused to leave an exclusion zone that police had set up with yellow tape, saying as a journalist she needed to be able to see what was going on.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The CAJ has confirmed that journalist @Songstress28 is being held by police.
We call on @edmontonpolice to not charge her and release her immediately. https://t.co/1lkowelrL8
— Canadian Association of Journalists (@caj) January 10, 2024
The camp was the eighth and final camp deemed by the city to be “high risk” to be taken down.
Police have detailed the health and safety dangers of homeless camps in Alberta’s capital.
Edmonton police Deputy Chief Warren Driechel said Tuesday officers had taken down 120 structures affecting at least 100 people and removed around 2,000 needles, dozens of weapons and 50,000 kilograms of waste.
