LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 11.05.09. Tamil protesters occupy a road outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday 11 May 2009 in London, England. Protesters were forcibly removed by police and pushed back on to Parliament Square. Tamil protesters had congregated to highlight the bombings of Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka government forces in the last 24 hours. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.

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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 11.05.09. Tamil protesters occupy a road outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday 11 May 2009 in London, England. Protesters were forcibly removed by police and pushed back on to Parliament Square. Tamil protesters had congregated to highlight the bombings of Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka government forces in the last 24 hours. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2009.

Link.

“Was this evidence on G20 policing – or just evasions?” – Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

“Police chief rejects G20 protest ‘trial by press’” – Sam Jones, The Guardian.

I was at the joint committee on human rights (JCHR) yesterday and the The Guardian asked me to do a Comment is free.

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.

Jeremy Dear the General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists has been invited to give evidence this Tuesday to the Joint Committee on Human Rights about police surveillance and harassment of journalists and photographers.  The committee consists of members of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and is charged with considering human rights issues in the UK. 

The NUJ has a huge amount of evidence to present.

“Home Secretary told “end police surveillance of journalists” – nuj.org.uk.

Last Thursday NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear sent a letter to Jacqui Smith the Home Secretary on the issue of police surveillance of journalists. In the letter Jeremy Dear wrote that “…we have serious concerns about the activities of the Metropolitan Police’s Forward Intelligence Team (FIT Team) in monitoring and recording the activities of bona fide journalists, especially photographers.” He went on to say the “police’s surveillance… amounts to virtual harassment”.

The full text of the letter has been released to the press today.

British Journal of Photography, 28.05.08, page 4. Copyright British Journal of Photography/Incisive Media, 2008. Published here by kind permission of the British Journal of Photography/Incisive Media.

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.

This week the NUJ will be taking up the issue of police surveillance of journalists who regularly cover protests with Jacqui Smith at the Home Office. The British Journal of Photography got wind of this towards the end of last week and rang up for quotes from both Jeremy Dear and I for an article for this weeks issue.

Here are the quotes in full.

NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear said, “The government must stamp out the routine and deliberate targeting of photographers and other journalists by the Forward Intelligence Team. Such actions undermine media freedom and can serve to intimidate photographers trying to carry out their lawful work. These abuses are the latest in an increasingly long list of infringements of media freedom at the hands of the Met Police. The rights of photographers to work free from threat, harassment and intimidation must be upheld”.

Photojournalist Marc Vallée said,“Press freedom is a central tenet of our democracy and it is extremely unpleasant to have Metropolitan Police Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) officers take notes, film and photography you when working. It begs the questions what legal, moral and political power such repressive actions are based on. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary needs to swiftly confirm that the police have no legal power to prevent or restrict working photographers in this way.”

I will post more later in the week once things start to move on this.