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.
“Home Affairs Committee – Eighth Report – Policing of the G20 Protests” – publications.parliament.uk
“MPs condemn ‘dismissive’ police treatment of journalists” – Press Gazette.
This is what the lawmakers had to say about the use of Section 14 of the Public Order Act – to disperse journalists at a protest to mark the death of Ian Tomlinson – a newspaper vendor – who had died the day before on an anti-G20 protest.
“We heard from Jeremy Dear that Section 14 was used in an apparently pre-meditated fashion to remove journalists from an area, rather than as a response to “serious public disorder”. We will return to general questions on the use of Section 14 later, but if, as Jeremy Dear alleged, it was used in this fashion then it would clearly be a misuse of powers granted to the police. The fact that the police have in both cases apologised does not excuse the fact that forcing members of the press to leave an area without justification sends out completely the wrong signal of the police’s intentions and does not help the police build strong relationships with the media. For this reason alone the misuse of Section 14 must be addressed.”
This is what I wrote in The Guardian in April on the use of Section 14:
“The day after Tomlinson’s death we had a City of London police inspector, backup by a group of territorial support group officers, ordering the media to leave the area as police “kettle” protesters who had congregated to mark his death. The police officer ordered 20 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 (pdf).
“This film, also published by the Guardian, shows the journalists (including me) having a “conversation” with the inspector. At one point he tells me to “shut up” when I question him about his actions. You have to ask yourself why section 14 was used against a group of working journalists. Why did the police want the journalists to be moved away from the protest for 30 minutes and 200 yards up the road? And why all of this was done under the threat of arrest?”
So why did the police want a group of journalists moved away from a protest for 30 minutes and 200 yards up the road? And why was all of this done under the threat of arrest?
These questions still need to be answered.
“UK: Journalists on the front line” – blog.marcvallee.co.uk
“Video: G20 Police use public order act on the media.” – blog.marcvallee.co.uk
“G20 Police use public order act on the media.” – blog.marcvallee.co.uk
