The woman behind the iconic arrest picture in Baton Rouge id's as Ieshia Evans

A woman who silently confronted heavily-armed Baton Rouge police during protests against the murder of two black men by police officers has been identified as a 28-year-old mum and nurse’s assistant.

An iconic photograph of Ieshia Evans, 28, standing defiantly with her arms crossed was widely shared following the protest in Baton Rouge.

The New York mother and licensed practical nurse had been attending her first ever protest when she was arrested.

It was Ieshia’s first protest (Picture: Ieshia Evans / Facebook)

She had travelled to Louisiana to protest, following the shooting of Alton Sterling because she ‘wanted a better future for her five-year-old son’.

Natasha Haynes, a friend of Evans, said: ‘She’s everything to me and I’m just happy she’s safe, not hurt and – most importantly – happy that she got up and did something about injustices here in the states.’

She explained that Evans had been ‘overcome with emotion’ while watching the demonstrations unfold on TV and wanted to do something about it.

So she decided to leave her son with his father and travel to the location of the protests on Saturday night.

Ieshia was held oveight charged with ‘obstruction of a highway’  (Picture: Ieshia Evans / Instagram)

But she was arrested shortly after as officers attempted to push the crowd back from the Baton Rouge Police Department, despite the protests being peaceful.

Evans reportedly told Haynes: ‘I went into the street with my arms crossed and just stared at them. I guess they didn’t like it because they detained me.’

According to police reports, Evans was held oveight charged with ‘obstruction of a highway’, before being released yesterday.

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