BRIGHTON, UNITED KINGDOM – 30.08.10. A police evidence bag with film shot by local man Glenn Williams of an anti-fascist protest. The film cassette was seized by police on the street under Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 on Monday 30 August 2010 Brighton, England. Early in the day police clashed with around 200 anti-fascist campaigners as around 40 far-right nationalist protesters congregated under heavy police protection. Police used dogs and horses to clear anti-fascist protesters blocking streets in Brighton to stop the far right march. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2010. All rights reserved.

Link: Click here to view more pictures.

Audio: Police seize protesters film

On Monday I covered a protest in Brighton. I saw the police seize an anti-fascist protesters film cassette. The police used Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984. What I found out is of great concern for photographers, journalists, media activists and especially New York fund managers.

Below is part of Section 19 of PACE:

(3) The constable may seize anything which is on the premises if he has reasonable grounds for believing —

(b) that it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent the evidence being concealed, lost, altered or destroyed.

So is it lawful for the police to seize media content from a member of the public on the street? It all comes down to the PACE definition of premises.

You can find that definition in Section 23.

The definition includes two very chilling words, “any place”.

I asked human rights lawyer Anna Mazzola from Hickman & Rose for her view on the use of Section 19 in a public order context.

“This episode reveals a worrying policy. Sussex police clearly think that Section 19 entitles them to remove film and footage from people where they suspect they have evidence of a crime and they can say that they have reason to believe the person may destroy that evidence. That is disturbing news for journalists and amateur photographers, particularly those covering public order events. While the police obviously have a duty to prevent and detect crime, they also have to provide some assurance that they will not use Section 19 to seize journalistic material.”

“Ian Tomlinson ruling: can we trust officers to police protests fairly now?” – Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

Here is a Comment is free for Liberty Central by yours truly on the CPS decision not to bring criminal charges against a highly trained Metropolitan police territorial support group officer who struck Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests last year.

“The Media Show” – BBC Radio 4.

I was a guest on BBC Radio 4′s Media Show today which is hosted by Steve Hewlett.

“Earlier this month the government said police would need stronger grounds before stopping and searching photographers on suspicion of terrorism. While welcoming this repeal of s44 of the Terrorism Act, photographer Marc Vallée says he still has concerns about police conduct, which he puts to ACPO’s spokesman on this, Craig Mackey, Cumbria’s Chief Constable.”

You can also download a podcast of the show from here.

“Police use of protest photos will face review” – The Financial Times.

Here is a link to an article by Michael Peel, FT Legal Correspondent; James Boxell, FT Home Affairs Correspondent and yours truly in The Financial Times today on police surveillance. Do you want to know what a left-wing Labour MP, the deputy Prime Minister’s ‘interfaith and extremism’ adviser and maybe you have in common? If so then read on or pick up a copy.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 02.05.08. A civilian police photographer films and photographs working journalists outside City Hall on Friday 2 May 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.

“Your 10 questions for would-be MPs” – Henry Porter, The Guardian.

“Ten reasons to feel uneasy” – Anthony Barnett, opendemocracy.net

Last night I was at the launch of Keith Ewing’s new book Bonfire of the Liberties – “a provocative book which confronts the corrosion of civil liberties under successive New Labour governments since 1997.”

I was one of the speakers at this packed out event held at NUJ headquarters along side Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary; Henry Porter, novelist and political columnist for The Observer; Dave Smith, from the Blacklist Support Group; Cerie Bullivant, who was on a control order for two years and Pennie Quinton, who took Section 44 to Strasbourg.

Dave Smith’s contribution on blacklisting in the UK construction industry and the attacks on trade unionists was very powerful.

We have to keep an eye on databases of multinationals as much as the states. It is important to defend our Article 11 rights as trade unionists to meet without being put under surveillance and harassed, by either the state or private companies.

The investigations on police surveillance of protesters and journalists as well as the covert state targeting of environmental activists that I worked on with Paul Lewis at The Guardian are mentioned in Ewing’s book which was a nice surprise.

Publication: Huck Magazine, October 2009.

A brief and selected review of 2009 – in no particular order.

Documenting political dissent, front page investigations, press freedom, Section 76, photographers rights, Section 44, the G20, a good day, a bad day, media interviews, winning an award, a face for radio, suing the Met (again), thinking about space, police surveillance, Huck Magazine, death threats, lunch, photographers organising, the Frontline Club, skateboarding, protest boys, looking back, Twitter, McCarthyite games & thinking about far off lands.

All said and done 2009 was a full on year. One wonders what 2010 has in store?

Publication: Pages 12 and 13 of The Journalist Magazine, September/October 2009.

“Citizens, journalists” – The Journalist Magazine.

“Article & Film Archive” – marcvallee.co.uk

“A collaboration between a national paper staff reporter and one of the union’s most active street photographers has produced a string of groundbreaking stories on police interference with the right to protest”.

Here are the links to the interview that Paul Lewis and I did with the National Union of Journalists magazine – The Journalist . You can read it online here and here (PDF).

Note: The article incorrectly states that Paul Lewis and I broke the story of the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 – this was not the case – this was the work of Paul alone.

Publication: Pages 3 of The Financial Times Saturday 17 October 2009.

“Met under fire over picture database” – Michael Peel, James Boxell and Marc Vallée, The Financial Times

“Police image library raises Orwellian concerns” – Michael Peel and Marc Vallée, The Financial Times

“Focus on legality of database” – Michael Peel and Marc Vallée, The Financial Times

Over the last two weeks I have been working for The Financial Times on an investigation into a secret police database of pictures of protesters. This made the front page today of the FT. The investigation team included Michael Peel the FT Legal Correspondent, James Boxell the FT Home Affairs Correspondent and yours truly.

To read what we found out click on the links above.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 02.05.08. A civilian police photographer films and photographs working journalists outside City Hall on Friday 2 May 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.

Publication: Front page story of The Guardian, 22 June 2009.

“Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number” – Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

“Video shows surveillance protesters bundled to ground by police” – Paul Lewis, The Guardian

“Fit Watch campaigners describe how they were arrested and bundled to the ground” – Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée, The Guardian

“Fit Watch: watching the watchers” – Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

This is the thrid major investigation I have worked on with Paul Lewis for The Guardian this year. Click on the links above to see what we found out – you could also pick up the print edition as well!

Publication: Page 5 of The Guardian, 22 June 2009.

Past investigations for The Guardian this year: “Plane Stupid investigation” (April 2009) and “Police Surveillance of journalists and protesters” (March 2009).

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 06.12.07. A member of Plane Stupid joins an environmental protest in London, England on Saturday 6th December 2008 as UN Climate talks take place in Poznan, Poland. The London protest was part of an international day of protest and an appeal to the UK government to take political action to tackle climate change. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.

“Police caught on tape trying to recruit Plane Stupid protester as spy” – Paul Lewis, The Guardian (Front page).

“‘UK plc can afford more than 20 quid,’ the officer said” – Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée, The Guardian (Pages 6 & 7).

“Analysis: The rules on police informants” – Sandra Laville, The Guardian (Pages 6 & 7).

“‘We don’t discuss money, we don’t talk salaries’” – The Guardian.

“Police and protest: failure of intelligence” – Editorial, The Guardian (page 36).

Above are links to the second investigation I have worked on for The Guardian this year.

UPDATE: Radio 4′s Today programme, Channel Four News, ITN News and BBC News have all picked up on our investigation, in fact Channel Four News led with it tonight (see below).

Plus here is what the rest of the press had to say about it, The Independent, The Times, The Press Association, The Herald, Reuters UK, The Daily Telegraph, AFP, The Scotsman, Sky News and many more.