Unbelievably, photographers are still being abused by the police for exercising basic rights

Alex Deane
Big Brother Watch

Photography is NOT A CRIME. We are not terrorists.

Yet more abuse of photographers in a public place.

As I have written before about the police and demonstrations, and specifically about photography, one of the worst repercussions of the anti-terror legislation is the blanket powers officers wrongly think it gives them to hassle people when they fancy it. A minor named Jules Mattsson was taking photographs of a parade in Romford recently. The result is quite extraordinary.

Confronted by the police for doing precisely nothing wrong, this young man admirably stood up for himself and maintained, rightly, that he was entitled to take pictures in a public place. The police, as they have done so often in these cases, bullied and hectored him under imaginary "powers". Listen to the footage - their behaviour is quite astonishing.

An officer bluntly asserts that it is an offence to take pictures of children. Wrong. Then he is told by an officer called "John Fisher" that it is a "criminal offence" to take pictures of police officers and police staff. Entirely wrong. He is shouted at and bullied and told that he is being treated like this because he is an "agitator". He is told, nonsensically, that he is being moved on "for his own safety" because he would be trampled by the parade if he stayed where he was - despite the fact that it is clear from the recording that he is standing there solely because an officer has hold of him!

The journalist asks again and again the law under which he is being detained, held, questioned - a question to which an answer is of course a basic right when being detained, held, questioned by the police. He never gets one.

Hysterically, he is told he is causing a breach of the peace and is a hazard to the public - as a result of opposing the police bullying to which he was subjected. He is told he is a threat "under the Terrorism Act" and that this empowers the police to treat him like this. Wrong. His camera is seized. He is manhandled. He asks yet again why he is being detained and isn't told.

He is told that he cannot take photographs of the officer questioning him - wrong. The officer asserts he know of some sort of "personal privacy law" that entitles him not to be photographed. Wrong. Quite typically, the officers push him and taunt him and lie about their rights to do so until he raises his voice in his defence, and then he is told that he is in "a state of disorder." He is told to stop recording their conversation. The police have no right to demand that. He is detained by the police for anti-social behaviour or a breach of the peace, they don't quite know - and then arrested.

The fact that the officers concerned throw umpteen alleged powers and alleged breaches of supposed laws at this man is demonstration of the fact that they didn't really have any power in mind when they confronted him - they'd just decided that they didn't like him taking pictures, wanted to push him around a bit and never dreamed that he'd stand up to them. Though we all want instinctively to support the police, incidents like this demonstrate that some are not worthy of support - indeed, the fact that they are obviously used to getting their way by being bullies means that their behaviour has undermined respect for the law they supposedly uphold, not merely on this occasion but in all likelihood, in past incidents too. Their swagger and arrogance revealed on the tape shows that they feel sure to escape punishment for their behaviour and the unjust treatment they meted out. I hope that an inquiry, and subsequent punishment show them to be wrong.

This case is symbolic of the wider shift in power that has lamentably taken place in this country, with strength shifting from the individual to the state. The fact that you are probably unsurprised on reading this piece is telling in itself.

I hope that the NUJ rallies to this brave young journalist's defence and bring a case against the police for their disgraceful behaviour.

Please listen to this appalling recording:

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Source: http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2010/06/unbelievably-photographers-are-still-being-abused-by-the-police-for-exercising-basic-rights.html Photo: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4179357033_306f6fa981.jpg