A Baton Rouge protest photo of a woman in a sun dress being arrested by police officers in riot gear has gone viral and also been compared to the 1989 photo of a single man confronting tanks at Tiananmen Square.
According to The Atlantic, Ieshia L. Evans, 35, was arrested Saturday by police while standing alone on Airline Highway near the Baton Rouge Police Headquarters. She was one of 102 protesters reportedly arrested and charged with obstructing a highway that day.
Freelance photographer Jonathan Bachman told The Atlantic that he was struck by the woman's willingness to stand by herself as police officers placed her in custody.
"I had turned to look over my right shoulder, I think that I had heard this women say something about she was going to be arrested, and I saw this woman, and she was standing in the first lane in that road," Bachman said.
"It happened quickly, but I could tell that she wasn't going to move, and it seemed like she was making her stand. … And I just thought it seemed like this was a good place to get in position and make an image, just because she was there in her dress and you have two police officers in full riot gear. It wasn't very violent. She didn't say anything. She didn't resist, and the police didn't drag her off," Bachman added.
The New York Daily News wrote that Evans and many other protesters spent several hours in the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail before they were released on Sunday. Evans works as a nurse and has a young son.
Evans took to Facebook on Sunday to respond to people who supported her since the photograph was shared widely online.
Bachman told BuzzFeed News he was "humbled" by the way the photo has been received.
"I'm just out here trying to tell the story of what's going on in Baton Rouge and it's very humbling to be able to take a photo that really resonates with a lot of people," the photographer told BuzzFeed.
Protests in Baton Rouge have continued since the police-involved shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, in the parking lot of a convenience store in Baton Rouge earlier this month.
Support for Evans was widespread on Twitter.
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