Tim Arvier, 9News US correspondent, has been detained by police at gunpoint while reporting on the riots.
Arvier is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the riots began last week over the death of black man, George Floyd, while he was in police custody.
He tweeted: "Just been detained and searched by #Minneapolis Police. They cuffed my cameraman and our security but were respectful and have now let us go."
Avier said he and his crew, including a cameraman and security guard, heard gunfire nearby, as they approached a police blockade by car.
The city is in lockdown - but journalists and crews are exempt from the curfew and are allowed to travel across the city.
The trio yelled out they were press as they approached the roadblock.
But cops pulled them out of the car, and Arvier said he feared they was going to be arrested.
"Police are really cracking down on anyone who is out and about," he said.
"You have to stop, put your hands out the window and show your credentials.
"We were yelling out we were press.
https://twitter.com/TimArvier9/status/1266969637817909250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"One police officer freaked out, pulled his gun out and got us to get out of the car.
"They pulled out our camera man hand cuffed him, pulled out the security, handcuffed him.
"They pulled me out of the car, sat me down, they searched me
Arvier said the group were clear and careful during the ordeal, and the officers calmed down when they realised they were not a threat.
"I didn't get handcuffed and was placed up against the car before they moved me to the gutter,"
Arvier said the group were clear and careful during the ordeal, and the officers calmed down when they realised they were not a threat.
"While they were a bit aggressive and confrontational at the start, it's how nervous they are after what has happened over the last few nights," he said.
Arvier's live reporting from the epicentre of the riots has included filming of an attempted bank robbery and looting, as well as interviews with protesters.
Meanwhile, officials in Minneapolis say they've succeeded for now in stopping the violent protests that ravaged parts of the city for several days after the death of Floyd.
Police, state troopers and National Guard members moved in to break up protests after an 8pm curfew took effect, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to clear streets outside a police precinct and elsewhere. The show of force came after three days where police mostly declined to engage with protesters.
It also came after the state poured in more than 4,000 National Guard members and said the number would soon rise to nearly 11,000.
As Minneapolis streets appeared largely quiet, Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said the heavy response would remain as long as it takes to "quell this situation."
Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes.
However, governors in several US states have also called in National Guard troops as protests over police killings of black men intensify elsewhere.
Similar scenes of unrest unfolded across several cities on Saturday from New York to Tulsa to Los Angeles, where police fired rubber bullets to scatter crowds and at least one police car burned.
The protests have left parts of that city a grid of broken windows, burned-out buildings and ransacked stores.
Authorities are investigating "multiple shootings," including one that left a person dead, in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday amid protests.
In Washington, President Donald Trump sent tweets ridiculing protesters outside the White House who were among thousands nationwide incited by the death of Floyd, who died after a policeman pressed his knee onto his neck for more than eight minutes.
The demonstrations have become a national phenomenon, with protesters decrying years of deaths at police hands.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood District, the site of a 1921 massacre of black people that left some 300 dead, protesters blocked intersections and chanted the name of Terence Crutcher, a black man killed by a police officer in 2016.
Other peaceful protests were being held in California, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
-reported with AAP
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