July 11 (Reuters): The black woman in the photograph stands in calm protest, her long dress fluttering in the breeze as two policemen clad in the heavy black padding and helmets of riot gear rush to remove her from the middle of a street in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Officers took about 180 people into custody over the weekend in the state capital, mostly on misdemeanour charges accusing them of blocking traffic on a major thoroughfare during protests over recent police shootings of black men.

But the standoff with one woman in particular, captured in a widely used image by Reuters freelance photographer Jonathan Bachman, has for some encapsulated the spirit of demonstrators across the US fighting in the past week against what they decry as unjust treatment of minorities by police.

"You'll be seeing this iconic photo from #BatonRouge &; versions of it, for the rest of your life," a man named David Law said on Twitter today.

Friends have identified the woman in the photo as Ieshia Evans, a licenced practical nurse who lives in Pennsylvania. On a Facebook page that appeared to be hers, Evans described her actions as "the work of God".

"I am a vessel! Glory to the most high! I'm glad I'm alive and safe," she wrote. Baton Rouge has become a flashpoint for protesters after Alton Sterling, 37, was shot and killed last week by city police.

Evans, the mother of a 5-year-old son, travelled to Baton Rouge "because she wanted to look her son in the eyes to tell him she fought for his freedom and rights", according to R. Alex Haynes, who said on Facebook he has known Evans since childhood.

A jail log from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office showed an Ieshia Evans, 35, was booked on a charge of simple obstruction of a highway and had been released from custody. Reuters could not reach Evans for comment today.