Italy's foreign undersecretary Ivan Scalfarotto deplored the arrest on air of a CNN television crew in Minneapolis on Friday as it covered protests in the US city following the death of an unarmed black man in police custody earlier this week.
"I believe the arrest on air of a television crew in the United States - 'The Land of the Free' - is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen in my entire life," Scalfarotto wrote in a tweet.
CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his camera crew were arrested live on air by Minnesota state police officers on Friday morning, apparently because they did not move on when instructed.
The team was released an hour later, after the governor apologised for the arrest.
The CNN crew was covering the third day of protests in Minneapolis after a police officer was filmed kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, 46, despite him repeatedly saying he could not breathe.
