Two journalists who were arrested while covering the unrest in Washington DC surrounding Donald Trump’s inauguration last Friday have been charged with felonies and could face up to 10 years in prison.



The journalists, who were there on assignment, are both charged with the most serious level of offense under the District of Columbia’s law against rioting. They could also each be fined up to $25,000 if convicted.

Evan Engel of Vocativ and Alex Rubinstein of RT America were arrested on Friday morning outside a school at 12th and L Streets in downtown Washington, according to police reports. They were released on Saturday following initial court appearances. Both had preliminary hearings scheduled for mid-February.

More than 200 people were arrested on Friday after property was vandalized in the US capital in the hours around Trump’s swearing-in as president. Police said six officers received minor injuries.

Engel’s bosses on Monday issued a furious response to the action against their employee, who told them that he was swept up by officers despite repeatedly informing them that he was a journalist covering the unrest. Engel’s camera was seized by police.

“The arrest, detainment and rioting charge against journalist Evan Engel who was covering the protests for Vocativ are an affront to the First Amendment and journalistic freedom,” a spokesman for the site said in a statement. “Vocativ will vigorously contest this unfounded and outrageous charge.”

RT said in an online post that Rubinstein was arrested “even though he showed police his media credentials”.

The channel, Rubinstein and an attorney listed in court records as Rubinstein’s representative had not responded to further inquiries about his arrest by time of publication.

An arrest report for Engel provided by Washington DC’s metropolitan police department said he was arrested after hundreds of people gathered at the intersection and “numerous crimes were occurring in police presence”.

“The crowd was observed enticing a riot by organizing, promoting, encouraging, and participating in acts of violence in furtherance of the riot,” the police narrative said. “The crowd was observed braking [sic] windows, lighting fires, vandalizing police vehicles, burned a limousine, and other acts of violence. The damage was determined to excess $5,000.00.”

An arrest report for Rubinstein stated only that “numerous individual [sic] were arrested” for violating the district’s laws against rioting.

William Miller, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Washington DC, declined to comment on the specifics of the cases or to say whether representations had been made from the news outlets about the arrests.

“Generally speaking, we are continuing to evaluate evidence and continuing to investigate the events of Jan 20, 2017 and are always open to receiving additional information,” Miller said.