Update 4:01 p.m. Bahrain's Ministry of the Interior tweets that Kristof was not arrested, but rather, the journalist was seeking police protection. The Washington Post provides an image of Kristof's documenting the incident on Twitter.

The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is in Bahrain observing clashes between anti-government protesters and law enforcement today, and he got a first-hand reporting opportunity when police dragged him into their car. Kristof tweeted that the police had put him in the car after he and other protesters were tear gassed, and he said, "not sure if I'm being detained or protected." (Seems like the latter, since he followed up to say they offered him water and "felt very awkward.") Either way, he took it as an opportunity to get some reporting done, getting some answers on why police use violence against protesters, who are out in force to protest the government's alleged human rights abuses during earlier uprisings. He's since been released after a senior officer arrived, and he's back to tweeting about the clashes. We're sure we'll be reading all about the incident in a column this weekend, and as always, we've got to commend it to Kristof for not just sitting in his New York office tapping out columns. (We also had to chuckle a bit when he tweeted, "Boy, if I were them [the police], I'd take my Blackberry." He clearly hasn't read the news that not even muggers want your Blackberry these days, let alone some policemen in Bahrain.) 

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