CNN reporter challenged on air in tense scenes from Minneapolis

Second night of unrest sees protester confront anchorwoman live on air for ‘twisting up the stories’, as commentators praise her for de-escalation

A reporter for CNN was challenged live on air by a protester in Minneapolis, where street clashes were ongoing for a second night following the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

The black protester, frustrated at a the ongoing confrontation between demonstrators and Minneapolis police officers, accused anchorwoman CNN Sara Sidner of “twisting up the stories” and refused to believe she was live on air.

“Tell me what you think about what’s going on?”, the CNN anchorwoman asked the protester, who responded with a number of profanities about both the media and the police officers.

“What I think about this,” said the man, pointing towards a scene with fireworks going off, “is all the press and all the extra s***t you all do, makes this worse.”

The CNN reporter, in an apparent bid to calm the situation, said they were both “going to get to know each other”, and that she would talk with him and share her phone number after going off air.

But the protester, frustrated, responded: “No, talk about something that’s real, you’re just going to edit out the s**t, and refused to believe Sidner about being live on air.

“You’re not f*****g live. I don’t care if you’re live or not, get away from here with all that media s**t you’ll doing. Take that camera all the way up there,” the protester told Sidner, pointing towards the fireworks again.

“We’re going up there, watch us,” she told the protester, before the CNN coverage showed her walking towards the scene of the demonstrations.

The remarkable exchange between the reporter and the protester followed the naming of a veteran female officer, Kim Potter, as the individual responsible for the shooting of Mr Wright, a black man, on Sunday.

The city’s police department — amid scrutiny for the ongoing trial of former officer Derek Chauvin in the death of another black man, George Floyd, last May — said protesters were "launching bottles, fireworks, bricks and other projectiles at public safety officials” late on Monday.

A curfew was also in force in the the city from 7pm, after which police said they made a number of arrests.

Twitter users widely praised Sider, the CNN anchorwoman, for her reporting and attempt to reason with the protester following the video being shared on the platform.

“CNN's Sara Snider gets confronted by a rightfully upset protester, she listens and deescalates on live TV. When the cops get confronted, they shoot tear gas & rubber bullets. We need more people like Sara Snider,” wrote Jake Lobin in a tweet.

Lisa, another Twitter user, commented: “Someone at CNN give Sara Sidner a raise quick, omg!”

This article was amended on 14 April 2021 to remove an inaccurate reference to the ‘shooting’ of George Floyd. Mr Floyd was not shot.