Lemon's arrest, alongside that of Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort, has sent shockwaves through press freedom and civil rights communities, raising urgent questions about the government's treatment of journalists covering protests and other matters of public concern. Both reporters were engaged in newsgathering related to demonstrations over recent federal actions in Minneapolis when they were taken into custody.
"You have people holding up their press credentials saying, 'I'm press,' and they still got shot. The Legislature spent all this time limiting how use of force can occur in a crowd control situation, and they just all ignored it."