“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.

“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.

Link.

“A few photographs add up to a minor terror alert” – Paul Lewis, The Guardian.

“From snapshot to Special Branch: how my camera made me a terror suspect” – Paul Lewis, The Guardian.

“We’re photographers, not terrorists” – Marc Vallée, The Guardian.

Last week my friend and colleague Paul Lewis took a walk in the City of London and ended up getting stopped and searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act.

I wrote a Comment is free about how society’s visual history is under threat.

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.

KINGSNORTH, KENT, UNITED KINGDOM – 09.8.08. Two mounted police officers raise their batons amongst protestors as police move in to arrest a man as environmental activists march on Kingsnorth Power Station Hoo, Kent, England on Saturday 9th August 2008. 2,000 campaigners marched on the Power Station with the aim to shut it down for the day. (Photo Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.

“Met police turns on charm ahead of climate protest” – Paul Lewis, The Guardian.

“Climate Campers Should Steer Clear of Police Charm Offensive” – Kevin Blowe, blowe.org.uk

“Met bids to “charm” protesters ahead of Climate Camp” – Guy Aitchison, opendemocracy.net

So what is it going to be like to document the Climate Camp next week?

My colleague Paul Lewis – who I have worked with on investigations into police surveillance of protesters and journalists, covert state targeting of environmental activists and police violence – has written an interesting article about how the Metropolitan Police are “overhauling its tactics for policing protests by reaching out to activists”. The Public Order Branch of the Met – C011 – has even set up a Twitter account! And yes I am following them.

A group of activists from the Climate Camp are on a day trip to the Met’s public order training centre in Gravesend today and I’m told that representatives from the National Union of Journalists are also at Gravesend today to work on relations between the media and the police in a public order context.

So is this just public relations or a real change in policing of protest?

Activist Kevin Blowe – writing on his Blog yesterday thinks climate activists should steer clear of the “police charm offensive” and Guy Aitchison – a contributing editor at openDemocracy makes the point that, “if the Met were at all serious about becoming a facilitator of peaceful protest, rather than an obstacle to it, they would abandon the apparatus of control and surveillance they’ve brought in recent years which seems designed to intimidate protesters and makes them feel like criminals.”

For me the test will be on the ground next week. Bottom line – will the Met respect the right to protest and the right of the media report it?

I’m sure some in the media will buy into the narrative the Met is spinning – I for one feel it is our job to report on events and not to treat a media strategy from New Scotland Yard as fact.

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.

Link.

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

Here is a link to a Comment is free post I wrote for The Guardian yesterday on journalists and the G2O protests. Plus the National Union of Journalists is considering legal action over the treatment of photographers and journalists by the police.

Also, here is some good news, Kent police have apologised to my friend and colleague Jess Hurd, who was stopped and searched four times while covering last year’s climate camp. I was stopped and searched with Jess two of the times. You can see this for yourself below in Jason N. Parkinson’s film Covering Climate Camp.

Plus, take a look at The Guardian investigation into police surveillance of journalists and protesters that I worked on with Paul Lewis to get a better context of the events surrounding the policing of the climate camp.

“Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters” – The Guardian.

“Caught on film and stored on database: how police keep tabs on activists” – The Guardian.

“Under surveillance: police target environmental protesters and journalists” – The Guardian.

“Police surveillance: ‘They’re focusing on the press more than the protesters’” – The Guardian.

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.

“Video: G20 police threaten photographers with arrest” – The Guardian.

As promised here is the film footage of the Section 14 incident at the G20 protest on the 2nd to mark the death of Ian Tomlinson. The footage was filmed by my good friend and colleague Jason N. Parkinson and published by The Guardian. You can hear me having a “conversation” with the inspector. He tells me to “shut up” and threatens to arrest us if we do not move. To put this all into context this incident took place an hour or so after this.

Also, I have something in The Guardian tomorrow on the Ian Tomlinson case which I have been working on with Paul Lewis, more on that tomorrow.