Iconic photo of Baton Rouge protester, police in riot gear takes social media by storm

An iconic photo of a Black Lives Matter protester standing stoically as police in riot gear prepare to arrest her has quickly gone viral.

A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of...

Posted by Reuters Pictures on Monday, July 11, 2016

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Photographer Jonathan Bachman captured the moment Saturday while on assignment for Reuters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Demonstrators had gathered there to protest following the death of Alton Sterling, 37, who was shot and killed by police last week.

"I saw this woman, and she was standing in the first lane in that road," Bachman told the Atlantic. "It happened quickly, but I could tell that she wasn't going to move, and it seemed like she was making her stand. To me it seemed like: You're going to have to come and get me. 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."

He added, "It wasn't very violent. She didn't say anything. She didn't resist, and the police didn't drag her off."

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According to Reuters, the woman, Ieshia Evans, is a nurse from Pennsylvania. She was released from jail after being charged with obstructing a highway.

After Bachman sent the image to Reuters, it swiftly made the rounds online. Writer Shaun King posted the photo to Facebook, where it has been shared more than 29,000 times.

>> See the post here

POWERFUL photo from Baton Rouge.(Photo by Jonathan Bachman of Reuters.) UPDATE: She was just released.

Posted by Shaun King on Sunday, July 10, 2016

Some even compared the photo to the "Tank Man" image from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

But even with all the attention his work is getting, Bachman has stayed humble.

"I was just doing my job," he told Reuters. "I felt like this was going to be an important photo, so I just took it."

>> Check out a video slideshow of the photos

Taking a stand in Baton Rouge

Photographer Jonathan Bachman was in Baton Rouge on Saturday covering the first protest of his career when he captured what has become for many the defining image of the Black Lives Matter rallies that have swept America this past week.A woman was standing calmly, her long dress the only thing moving in the breeze, as two police officers in full riot gear confronted her in the middle of a roadway to arrest her. Photographer Jonathan Bachman describes the moment: http://reut.rs/2a3WjUs

Posted by Reuters Pictures on Monday, July 11, 2016

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