Rishi Sunak joined police chiefs in calling for press freedom after it emerged journalists had been arrested and detained during Just Stop Oil protests.

LBC’s Charlotte Lynch has recounted her “terrifying” five hours in a police cell, a day after documentarian Rich Felgate and photographer Tom Bowles were arrested for reporting on M25 activists in Hertfordshire.

Mr Sunak said it was ‘vital’ that journalists could do their job freely, ‘without restriction’, as the Hertfordshire police chief called for a review of the arrests.

Mr Sunak said it was ‘vital’ that journalists could do their job freely, ‘without restriction’, as the Hertfordshire police chief called for a review of the arrests.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson told reporters: “I am cautious about commenting on specific incidents. Operational decisions rest with the police, but the Prime Minister is a firm believer in defending press freedom.

“We wouldn’t want to see these freedoms curtailed while journalists go about their daily business.”

Ms Lynch had been reporting on the activists from a road bridge over Junction 21 of the M25 on Tuesday for around 45 minutes when she was approached and questioned by two officers.

After showing them a press card and explaining that she was reporting on the protest, officers handcuffed her, took her phone and arrested her for conspiracy to commit a public nuisance.

They wanted to know how Ms Lynch knew about the protest, she said.

Ms Lynch said: ‘It was absolutely terrifying to be in a cell with a cushion for a bed in one corner and a metal toilet in the other.

“I was just doing my job. What is also terrifying is what this means for press freedom. It was blindingly obvious that I was a journalist.

Documentary maker Rich Felgate and photographer Tom Bowles had captured the activists on a footbridge over the M25 near Kings Langley around 11am on Monday while handcuffed.

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The two men, who both claim to have no affiliation with the group, had their equipment seized and taken to the police station, despite their efforts to show their press cards.

Mr Bowles, 47, from Hackney, east London, told the PA news agency he was detained until 1.30am, hours after his wife and 14-year-old daughter years awoke to three officers searching their home.

Speaking to reporters at a conference in Westminster on Wednesday, National Council of Police Chiefs chairman Martin Hewitt said officers came under pressure when dealing with protesters, but the media should not be prevented from covering them.

He said: “There is enormous pressure at play around these protest issues for reasons you will understand.

“But, of course, journalists have the right to go and report on these occasions and that should not be prevented in any way.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: ‘Freedom of the press is really important and you will often – and rightly so – want to be close enough to where the tough stuff is happening so you can get it right. report and I absolutely support that.

“The principle that you are sometimes going to be close to the action and we have to be sensitive to freedom of the press, of course, I completely agree.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman later said the reports she had heard were “worrying”, but added: “I think we should allow any investigation into what happened to follow its course and I would not like to prejudge the conclusions.

“I don’t know exactly what happened for sure. I wouldn’t like to comment. All I know are reports and speculation if I’m being honest so I haven’t read or been fully updated on the specifics.

It came after Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper asked Commons Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans how the House could summon Ms Braverman to explain and apologize for the treatment of journalists covering the demonstrations given the “seriousness of the incidents”.

Ms Cooper, MP for St Albans, added: “We are not an authoritarian state. The ability of journalists to do their job unhindered is a vital part of our democracy.

Hertfordshire Police said officers had “used their professional judgement” to clear possible protesters from the roads.

A statement from the force read: ‘Police Chief Charlie Hall acknowledges the concerns over the recent arrests of journalists who arrived at this scene and were present with protesters at the scene.

“Additional measures are now in place to ensure that legitimate media are able to do their job.

“Furthermore, Mr Hall is today calling for an independent force to review our approach to these arrests and identify any lessons we should learn from handling these difficult situations.”

Dawn Alford, executive director of the Society of Editors, said: “The Society is deeply concerned at reports this week of a number of journalists being arrested while covering protests by campaign group Just Stop Oil.

“Protests are a source of legitimate public interest and journalists, filmmakers and photographers have the right to attend protests and report on behalf of the public.

“We strongly condemn the arrest of journalists in the course of their work and will write to Hertfordshire Police to demand an urgent explanation and seek assurances that their officers respect the rights of journalists and understand that such actions threaten freedom. of the press.”

Former shadow attorney general Baroness Shami Chakrabarti told LBC: “If the police are now going to start arresting journalists for conspiracy to commit a public nuisance – in other words to know that a protest is about to take place – so they effectively shut down the free press, the free media, in this country.

“And that means the public doesn’t have a chance to judge for itself whether the police controlled a particular protest well or badly, or even whether the protesters behaved well or badly.”

“So it’s very, very serious.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan also said: “Journalists should not be arrested for doing their job.