A woman protesting the United States’ raids in Venezuela was arrested on camera in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, moments after she finished giving a televised interview criticizing the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
News cameras were still rolling on Saturday when two police officers approached activist Jessica Plichta from behind as she spoke to local station WZZM. Plichta had just addressed the crowd and the reporter about the US operation targeting Maduro and his wife.
“We have to apply pressure at all points that we can,” she said during the interview. “This is not just a foreign issue,” Plichta continued, “it’s our tax dollars that are also being used to commit these war crimes.”
She went on to say it was the American people’s “duty… to stand against the Trump regime, the Trump administration, for committing crimes both here in the US and against people in Venezuela.”
Plichta organized the rally through the Grand Rapids Opponents of War, just hours after the Trump administration announced that Maduro and his wife had been taken into custody in an overnight operation.
During the interview, Plichta also claimed she had been in Venezuela three weeks earlier for an international summit known as the People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty of Our America. “I saw Maduro in person. People loved him,” she said. “Maduro was elected by the people. He is for the people and the people want to see his return.”
She ended her remarks with, “Free Maduro.” As Plichta unclipped her microphone, two officers were seen walking up behind her. She placed her hands on her head as officers grabbed her wrists, handcuffed her, and led her to a nearby patrol car.
When a bystander asked why she was being arrested, an officer responded that she was obstructing a roadway and had failed to obey a lawful command.
In a statement to AlterNet, the Grand Rapids Police Department said officers monitoring the march made more than 25 announcements instructing protesters to “leave the roadway and relocate their activities to the sidewalk.”
“Blocking traffic in this manner is a direct violation of city and state law,” the department said.
Police claimed the group refused “lawful orders to move this free speech event to the sidewalk,” and instead continued blocking intersections until the march ended. Officers then consulted with supervisors, who advised that identified individuals could be arrested.
“The adult woman who was arrested was positively identified by officers, and the lawful arrest was made,” the department said.
Plichta was released later the same day, according to a video shared by the Grand Rapids Alliance. In the footage, she raises her left fist and shouts, “Viva Maduro,” which translates to “Maduro lives.”
Speaking later to Zeteo, Plichta said, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as soon as I finished an interview speaking on Venezuela, I was arrested.”
She told the outlet that officers shoved her into the back of a patrol car without fastening her seat belt and drove a short distance away from cameras and bystanders. According to Plichta, officers then pulled her out, bent her over the vehicle, searched her, and took her belongings. She said one officer told her they moved her because she was “making a scene.”
Plichta also claimed officers repeatedly questioned her about whether she was Venezuelan, what her connection to Venezuela was, and why she attended the protest. She said they attempted to get her to identify other demonstrators.
“We are so accustomed to, and used to, repression when we speak out on anti-war topics. When we speak out for Venezuela, when we speak out for Palestine, we expect the police to want to shut that down,” she told Zeteo.
“It just shows how much they feel they can get away with things, how easy it is for them to isolate people from the public eye when they’re doing this.”
The Grand Rapids protest was one of several demonstrations across the US condemning the Trump administration’s decision to detain the Venezuelan leader.
Online, the arrest triggered a wave of backlash. One social media user wrote, “This is how it begins. Pretty soon no one will want to speak. Myself included. These small acts of intimidation are how they get their point across. Eventually we will all be afraid to even post here. Notice how they made sure to do this ON camera. Why do you think they want access to our accounts and our online fingerprint. They want to scare and silence anyone who speaks out.”
Another user reacted bluntly: “Trump’s America is the new North Korea.”
Others pushed back on that framing. One commenter wrote, “It doesn’t help to be dishonest. Using a half truth to portray something just shows you don’t have a leg to stand on.”