OpenFile Montreal reporter took Twitter rescue tip from student journos

OpenFile Montreal reporter Justin Ling was arrested last night while covering a student demonstration in Montreal. Just after midnight OpenFile tweeted to police for help in locating Ling.

@SPVM One of our reporters, @justin_ling, has been arrested. He's working for us tonight. Can you help?

 

OpenFile Montreal reporter Justin Ling was arrested last night while covering a student demonstration in Montreal. Just after midnight OpenFile tweeted to police for help in locating Ling.

@SPVM One of our reporters, @justin_ling, has been arrested. He's working for us tonight. Can you help?

— OpenFile (@OpenFileMTL) May 23, 2012

After seeing the tweets, people who know him did the same. He was released within the hour, just before 1 a.m. Ling’s twitter feed recounts the story and includes a tweet saying “Here come cops” followed by an attempt to write ‘I’m under arrest,' which looked like:

I'm under attr

— Justin Ling (@justin_ling) May 23, 2012

Ling's arrest — and subsequent releases, thanks to Twitter — comes less than a week after a handdful of Montreal student journalists faced the same situation. But unlike the student journalists, the OpenFile reporter had credentials which he tried to show police but had no luck. Ling, who had been covering the protests nightly, wrote a first-person account for Openfile Montreal about his arrest. Check it out here.