As the lone woman stood in front of a row of riot police in the United States, her flowing dress and bare arms in sharp contrast to the officers’ armour, she gave off an air of peaceful determination and defiance.
This image, shot by Reuters photographer Jonathan Bachman, is being defined as iconic and a powerful image of the ongoing struggle between law enforcement and black Americans.
The photograph was taken on Saturday when a group of protesters blocked the Airline Highway, outside Baton Rouge’s Police Department headquarters in Louisiana.
A large number of police officers descended on the highway in their riot gear as a response and arrested over 100 people, who were protesting against the shooting of two black Americans last week.
Emblematic of Tiananmen Square’s infamous and unknown “Tank Man,” Reuters was unable to identify the woman, who was later detained.
Speaking about the photograph, New Orleans freelance photographer Bachman said, “I photographed someone arguing with an officer and then I looked over my shoulder and saw her there and she had every intention of not moving,” he said. “She just stood there and made her stand. I was just happy to be able to capture something like that.”
“It wasn’t very violent. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t resist, and the police didn’t drag her off.”
“That was the first image I transferred [to Reuters] because I knew it was going to be an important photo,” he was quoted as saying. “You can take images of plenty of people getting arrested, but I think this one speaks more to the movement and what the demonstrators are trying to accomplish here in Baton Rouge.”
The woman was released from police custody late Sunday evening, according to New York Daily News reporter Shaun King.
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