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.”

Poster.

“Victory Flashmob – Section 44 is Dead!” – londonphotographers.org

“Campaigners claim victory over Stop & Search ruling” – PhotographerNotaTerrorist.org

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. First round is on the Met!

“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.

“Speaking up for press freedom” – Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

Here is my Comment is free on last nights Hostile Reconnaissance – Terror Laws, Civil Liberties and Press Freedom rally organised by the London Photographers’ Branch of the National Union of Journalists.

Do we need a press freedom bill?

A legal definition of who is a journalist is problematic but both news gathering and journalism need legal protection.

For me a press freedom bill would not be about giving individual journalists more legal protection then any other citizen. What it could do is give the act of news gathering legal protection. The film footage by a New York fund manger of the attack on Ian Tomlinson at the G20 in London last year by a TSG police officer was a very important act of news gathering by a member of the public who was not a journalist.

In the hands of Paul Lewis and The Guardian that film footage become journalism. The police did visit The Guardian office to put pressure on The Guardian to remove the film from its website. Thankfully The Guardian stood up to this pressure. Legal protection in that context would be a step forward.

We have a common law right to take a picture in a public place. Court rulings over privacy, counterterrorism laws and police action threaten that common law right. I would like that right to be protected for all.

Updated: 15.04.10.

“Hostile Reconnaissance – Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom” – London Photographers’ Branch of the NUJ.

The Hostile Reconnaissance rally is tonight! Very much looking forward to it. I will be speaking along side Jeremy Dear, General Secretary National Union of Journalists; Paul Lewis, Guardian journalist & British Press Awards Reporter of the Year 2010; Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College London & author of Bonfire of the Liberties; Henry Porter, Observer columnist, author & London editor of Vanity Fair and Chez Cotton, Head of Action Against the Police at Bindmans Solicitors & a co-ordinator of the Police Action Lawyers Group.

Click here for more information.

“Hostile Reconnaissance – Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom” – London Photographers’ Branch of the NUJ.

I’m one of the speakers at the London Photographers’ Branch pre-election rally next week along with Jeremy Dear, General Secretary National Union of Journalists; Paul Lewis, Guardian journalist & British Press Awards Reporter of the Year 2010; Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College London & author of Bonfire of the Liberties; Henry Porter, Observer columnist, author & London editor of Vanity Fair and Chez Cotton, Head of Action Against the Police at Bindmans Solicitors & a co-ordinator of the Police Action Lawyers Group.

Hostile Reconnaissance: Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom at 7pm on the 13th of April at Friends Meeting House in Euston.

Click here for more information.

“Hostile Reconnaissance – Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom” – London Photographers’ Branch of the NUJ.

The London Photographers’ Branch of the NUJ is holding a pre-election rally on Terror Laws, Civil Liberties & Press Freedom at 7pm on the 13th of April at Friends Meeting House in Euston.

Click here for more information.

“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.

“Photographer and investigative journalist Marc Vallée on protests, breaking stories and police poundings” – ideastap.com

The nice folks at Ideas Tap interviewed me last week about my work and here it is.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 02.04.09. A City of London police inspector orders the media to leave the area as police ‘kettle” protesters outside the Bank of England on Thursday 2 April 2009 in London, England. The police officer ordered members of the media to leave the area for 30 minutes under the threat of arrest by citing Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. The protesters had congregated to mark the death of a man who had died on an anti-G20 protest the day before. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.

“Adapting to Protest – Nurturing the British Model of Policing” – inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk

“HMIC press release” – inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk

“‘Aggressive’ policing of protests condemned in post-G20 inquiry” – Paul Lewis, The Guardian.

“Journalists on the G20 front line” – Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

My friend and colleague Paul Lewis writes in The Guardian today, “Senior police officers could lose the consent of the British public unless they abandon misguided approaches to public protests that are considered “unfair, aggressive and inconsistent”, an inquiry has found.”

Paul goes on to say, “Denis O’Connor, the chief inspector of constabulary, used a landmark report into public order policing to criticise heavy-handed tactics, which he said threatened to alienate the public and infringe the right to protest.”

Many will welcome the report. But – and its a big but – what impact will this report have on frontline journalists who report and document political dissent in Britain? As the report almost fails to mention photographers and journalists covering protests, I think we will have to wait and see.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 18.05.09. Commander Bob Broadhurst at the NUJ Photographers Conference held at the Institute of Education on Monday 18 May 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.