Photo: Bill Joseph
Pressure groups and industry bodies hit out at “sledgehammer” legislation and the potential for police to wield those laws to prevent photography, curtail civil liberties and dampen dissent in the wake of Ian Tomlinson’s death during the G20 protests in London.
Crucial footage has emerged showing a police officer striking Tomlinson with a full-force baton blow. Tomlinson later collapsed and died from a suspected heart attack.
Campaigners hope this incident will highlight the dangers of police suppression of photography in public places under terrorism laws.
Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act 2008, which came into force February 15th asserts: “A person commits an offence who elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been a member of Her Majesty’s forces, a member of any of the intelligence services or a constable which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
There is apprehension that this vague legislation will be used to smother legitimate photography. Anyone snapping a photo of those people faces an unlimited fine and ten years in jail.
Neil Turner, Vice Chairman of the BPPA, said: “Section 76 is a loosely worded sub-section to a piece of legislation that is, in itself, something of a sledgehammer. In giving Section 76 such loose wording we feel that the likelihood of there being improper use of it is greatly increased.
“There is a real danger that sooner or later mistakes will be made and a test case will be brought to establish what this law actually means.”
Dr Geraint Bevan, coordinator of the Convention on Modern Liberty for Scotland, said: “There’s a chilling effect on freedom of speech and the rights of people to protest and talk about what’s going on. If the police can deter people from taking photos and deter them from protesting or reporting what’s happening, then that’s a very serious effect on freedom of speech, which is very unhealthy for our society.
New Scotland Yard was the scene of a “mass picture-taking session” on February 16th. The photo call, organized by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), protested another restrain on the right to take pictures in public places, what the NUJ branded a “precious freedom”.
Speaking at the protest, comedian and political activist Mark Thomas said: “It’s a crass piece of draconian legislation. Suddenly, [photographers] can be arrested for doing their work; they can have their work confiscated. Secondly, it means that at demonstrations you can be arrested for taking photographs.
“There’s a history of police misbehaving at demonstrations. It’s important to record that. It’s part of the democratic process. It’s called holding the state to account.”
Photojournalist Marc Vallée, hospitalized in 2006 after injuries sustained by police action while covering a Parliament Square demonstration, pointed to use of previous terrorism legislation to prevent journalists from reporting on protests.
“I know journalists that have walked out of a tube station on the way to a protest. They’ve got their press card hanging around their neck. They’ve got all their equipment. Officers have walked up to them, addressed them by name, said ‘Hello, are you going to cover the protest?’. The journalist replied yes, and the officer said ‘Right, we are going to stop you under section 44’. How is that appropriate use of terrorism legislation?”
Turner said: “In meetings with senior police officers and other bodies, we have been assured that Section 76 will not be used to stop press photographers doing their jobs. Nor will it be used to retrospectively block the publication of images gathered in a lawful way.
“Our fear is that this will not be honoured by more junior officers on the ground and there will come a time when the legislation is misused in the heat of the moment and photographers will be impeded.”
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker told a Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights on policing and civil liberties “memory cards may be seized as part of a search but officers do not have legal power to delete images or destroy film.
“We must not put ourselves in a situation where photographers, journalists or others feel that they do not have the right and do not believe that they can pursue their professional job and the public interest”.
Activist Val Swain is a member of FIT Watch, a collective that photographs Forward Intelligence Teams – police squads who monitor and photograph protesters. She has experienced numerous altercations with police.
“On a ‘No Borders’ protest, a Metropolitan Police officer grabbed hold of my camera and tried to wrestle it out of my hand. When I did not let go, he squared up to me, shoved me hard, and told me he would arrest me if I didn’t stop taking photographs of him and other police officers.
“He later threatened to arrest me for taking unauthorised photographs of children, even though I had taken no pictures of children whatsoever.
“At the climate camp in Kent last year, I was arrested as I tried to take a picture of an officer carrying out stop and search operations at the gate of the camp. I was asked to photograph the officer because he wasn’t displaying his identifying numbers.
“When I lifted my camera, his colleague came and stood in front of the lens so I couldn’t take the shot. When I walked to the side and lifted my camera again, I was grabbed, dragged across the road, thrown against a van, and arrested for obstruction. Both my colleague, who was arrested for intervening, and I were denied bail and held for four days in Bronzefield Women’s Prison. The charges were later dropped.”
As security is a reserved matter, powers granted under the Counter Terrorism Act 2008 differ in Scotland.
Dr. Bevan said: “The British Transport Police are under the direct control of the Home Office, rather than the local police force. In all of Scotland there is no area designated under the Terrorist Act as a place where you can stop and search.”
“Railway stations are different because they’re policed by council police, who are governed by the Home Office. You can walk through Glasgow or Edinburgh with no problem at all. The police don’t have the power to detain you. You walk into a railway station – they do.”
The British Transport Police are unable to divulge if anyone has been cautioned or moved on under Section 76, as “it is an operational police matter”. They were also unable to state how many suspected or planned terrorist attacks they have prevented. The Association of Chief Police Officers for Scotland (ACPOS) could not be reached for comment on either matter.
A parliamentary question asking for clarification from the Home Office on the policy of “police preventing members of the public from taking photographs in public place” on November 26, 2008 has not been answered.
According to the BPPA, they have not had any reports of photographers being impeded under Section 76.
Speaking at the Convention on Modern Liberty, director of Liberty Shami Chakrabati spoke of a “death by a thousand cuts”, the slow demise of civil liberty by encroaching legislation.
“It is said by former Government chief scientist Professor David King that if you introduce live frogs into a sauce pan of boiling water, they sensibly and instinctively jump out and save their skins.
“If, on the other hand, you introduce the same live frogs to a pan of tepid water and gently apply heat, the frogs will splash around and have a merry time and feel warmer and happier, and gently and slowly boil to death.
“That is how freedom dies.”
