Grant Smith & Marc Vallée launching the pamphlet at the AoP Gallery. Image © Jonathan Warren 2011

There was a great turnout at last nights launch party where we gave away over 500 copies of the pamphlet which is available to download now.

We’ve still got lots of copies to give away you can get one by sending a double stamped self-addressed envelope to Photographer Not a Terrorist, 308-312 Gray’s Inn Rd, London WC1X 8DP. If you’d like a handful to leave at a venue please contact us to arrange delivery.

We’d like to again thank the National Union of Journalists and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom who have funded the production of the pamphlet. Also to the London Photographers’ Branch and British Press Photographers’ Association who have supported the pamphlet. The AoP for letting us use their gallery and ING Media for sponsoring the event.

Download: I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist : A brief history (PDF)

Image: Jess Hurd

Over the last few months we’ve been working on a pamphlet that celebrates the history of the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign. We’re now proud to invite you all to it’s launch at the AoP Gallery at 7pm on the 14th June with free refreshments kindly sponsored by ING Media.

The pamphlet entitled I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! – A brief History is fully illustrated over 20-pages, written by the campaign’s founders and organisers and will be available for free at the event. It is available to download (PDF) or you can request a free copy by sending a double stamped self-addressed envelope to Photographer Not a Terrorist, 308-312 Gray’s Inn Rd, London WC1X 8DP.

We’re indebted to the National Union of Journalists and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom who have funded the production of the pamphlet. Also to the London Photographers’ Branch and British Press Photographers’ Association who have supported the pamphlet.

Facebook Event Google Map

Images © Grant Smith, Jess Hurd, Marc Vallée & Jonathan Warren

We held a very successful flashmob outside London City Hall today, World Press Freedom Day, to highlight the harassment of photographers by security guards on privately owned but publicly accessible areas of London.

We also delivered a letter to Mayor Boris Johnson explaining how security guards were preventing people from quite legally photographing buildings in the city.

The security guards who usually swoop down on photographers who dare bring a ‘professional’ camera out on More London property were nowhere to be seen and even the City Hall security guard who took the letter to the Mayor kept a stiff upper lip as he was mobbed by photographers in the lobby.

Dear Mr Johnson

Today is World Press Freedom Day, photographers from all over the city have come to City Hall to express their frustration at the behaviour of private security guards.

The event has been organised by the campaign group, I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! (PHNAT), which was set up to fight unnecessary and draconian restrictions against individuals taking photographs in public spaces.

PHNAT is concerned about the role of private security guards in the prevention of terrorism. Their role has been promoted by police, with the result that many privately employed guards are illegally preventing citizens from taking any photographs at all.

Areas designated as public realm are often privately managed spaces that are subject to rules laid down by the private management companies. Most insidious of these is the outright banning of photography in some of our most widely enjoyed public spaces, such as Canary Wharf and the Thames Walk between Tower Bridge and City Hall.

We are bringing this issue to the attention of the general public to highlight the creeping restrictions to press freedom and the right of the citizen to photograph in a public place.

Yours Sincerely

Concerned photographers

More photos and coverage:

• Photographers Attack ‘Insane’ Security Rules - Amateur Photographer
• Snappers hold City Hall flashmob in protest at photography restrictions – London SE1
• Photographers’ freedom call: Flashmob at City Hall – John Slattery
• Snappers slam Canary Wharf photography laws – The Docklands
• Architectural photographer makes City Hall protest – Building Design
  
• Photographers gather to protest public photography restrictions – British Journal of Photography
• Photographers organise London City Hall flashmob on World Press Freedom Day – National Union of Journalists
• We’re photographers not terrorists, say press freedom day activists – Ekklesia
• Photographers’ City Hall Flashmob – Peter Marshall

Photographs © Grant Smith & Marc Vallée

For immediate release.
Event to be held on Tuesday 3rd May, World Press Freedom Day, at City Hall, London SE1 2AA at 12:30.

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! (PHNAT), the campaign group set up to fight unnecessary and draconian restrictions against individuals taking photographs in public spaces, is organising a flashmob outside London’s City Hall.

The event takes place on World Press Freedom Day and is supported by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) London Photographers’ Branch (LPB).

PHNAT is concerned about the role of private security guards in the prevention of terrorism. Their role has been promoted by police, with the result that many privately employed guards are illegally preventing citizens from taking any photographs at all.

Areas designated as public realm are often privately managed spaces that are subject to rules laid down by the private management companies. Most insidious of these is the outright banning of photography in some of our most widely enjoyed public spaces, such as Canary Wharf and the Thames Walk between Tower Bridge and City Hall.

The mass gathering will highlight the restrictions on street photography in a public space. Photographers are encouraged to bring a tripod.

PHNAT successfully campaigned for the repeal of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (January 2011), however Section 47a has been drafted in by a remedial order to enable police to use stop-and-search powers when a senior police officer reasonably suspects a terrorist action will take place. PHNAT is very concerned that Section 47a will be used against amateur and professional photographers, stopping them taking photographs in public.

An illustrated PHNAT pamphlet will also be launched at the event. Created by PHNAT and LPB members, supported by the NUJ, British Press Photographers Association (BPPA) and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, it will celebrate the history of the PHNAT campaign.

Documentary photographer Marc Vallée, one of the founders of PHNAT said:

The privatisation of public space is impacting on public photography. Private companies, with the backing of national and local government, are eroding the common law right of the citizen to take a picture in a public place. This is why we will be outside London City Hall on the 3rd May.

One of the organisers of the event, architectural photographer Grant Smith said:

Private security guards are being mandated to control and attempt to prohibit photography from public spaces of private (corporate) buildings. The authority to do this Is illegal and amounts to legitimisation of these security forces to act as law enforcers, without public accountability.

Notes for Editors

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! Is a campaign run by photographers for anyone who values visual imagery. It was set up in 2009 in response to new terrorism laws preventing the photographing of police officers. In January 2010 it organised a mass photo gathering in Trafalgar Square that attracted over 2,000 photographers from across the country.

Contact

Grant Smith: 077748 39078 / grant@grant-smith.com

http://photographernotaterrorist.org
http://twitter.com/phnat

Photographs © Grant Smith & Marc Vallée

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! (PHNAT), the campaign group set up to fight unnecessary and draconian restrictions against individuals taking photographs in public spaces, is organising a flashmob outside London’s City Hall.

The event takes place on World Press Freedom Day and is supported by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) London Photographers’ Branch (LPB).

PHNAT is concerned about the role of private security guards in the prevention of terrorism. Their role has been promoted by police, with the result that many privately employed guards are illegally preventing citizens from taking any photographs at all.

Areas designated as public realm are often privately managed spaces that are subject to rules laid down by the private management companies. Most insidious of these is the outright banning of photography in some of our most widely enjoyed public spaces, such as Canary Wharf and the Thames Walk between Tower Bridge and City Hall.

The mass gathering will highlight the restrictions on street photography in a public space. Photographers are encouraged to bring a tripod.

An illustrated PHNAT pamphlet will also be launched at the event. Created by PHNAT and LPB members, supported by the NUJ, British Press Photographers Association (BPPA) and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, it will celebrate the history of the PHNAT campaign.

Facebook Event

Yesterday the government laid a written ministerial statement to both houses of Parliament. The emergency measure, Prevention And Suppression Of Terrorism – The Terrorism Act 2000 (Remedial) Order 2011 (PDF) brings back stop and search powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 from today.

Home Secretary Theresa May announced on the 26 January that the review of counter-terrorism powers made recommendation that the Government should consider whether the police needed new stop and search power more quickly.

On 1 March Theresa May announced that, “given the current threat environment” she had “concluded that the police do need the powers more quickly” and that “the most appropriate way of meeting the legal and operational requirements concerning the counter-terrorism stop and search powers exercisable without reasonable suspicion is to make a remedial order” in the “interests of national security”.

The remedial order replaces Sections 44 to 47 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and with Section 47A.

From today Section 47A will give a “senior police officer” the power to make an authorisation in “relation to a specified area or place” if the officer“reasonably suspects that an act of terrorism will take place” and “considers that the authorisation is necessary to prevent such an act.”

Under Section 44 the police had to go to the Home Office for authorisation now the police will have a Code of Practice to follow.

Under Section 47A a “constable in uniform” will have the power “to stop a pedestrian” in the specified area and to search them and “anything carried by them”.

This emergency measure brings back stop and search powers that could impact on photographers and journalists right to report and the right of a citizen to make a picture in a public place.

The timing should not go unnoticed, the largest protest against the governments austerity measures and enforced transfer of billions of pounds from the public sector to the private sector will be taking place on the 26th March.

Indiscriminate stop and search powers did not stop a single terror attack against Britain. What it did do was impact on hundreds of thousands of lives across the country.

In January I told the British Journal of Photography:

The devil is always in the detail, and after reading the Home Office review it is clear that the coalition government is planning to give the police new stop-and-search powers to get around the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling. I do not think for one minute that these new powers will protect photographers from harassment and abuse from the police on the streets of Britain, far from it.

The recent reports that police are seeking new stop and search powers following the European court’s ruling that Section 44 violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights comes as no surprise.

Any move to introduce legislation that allows the arbitrary detention of citizens for no crime should be resisted at all costs. In 2000 section 44 was introduced to ‘safeguard the community against terrorism’. The wholesale abuse of that law saw hundreds of thousands detained, public confidence in the police plummeted and not a single person was arrested for a terrorist offence.

Photographers were a particular group to be targeted and this led to the formation of the I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist (PHNAT) campaign. Blanket laws even applied within a narrowed time frame will single out innocent citizens and is still fundamentally wrong.

We are delighted at this news of the suspension of Section 44. We are sure photographers across the UK are looking forward to freely photographing in a public place without the being bullied by the police and corporate security guards.

The hostile environment created by this law should be the end of it.

Unfortunately there are still a swathe of laws that police can and will still use to harass photographers, most notably Section 43, which is similar to Section 44 but requires an officer to suspect that you are a terrorist and Section 76 which makes it illegal to ‘elicit information about a police officer’ which includes photographing them.

We will also monitor other stop and search powers to see if these are now used against photographers.

The following statement was made by the Home Secretary Theresa May on the 8th July 2010 to the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a statement on stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

On Wednesday of last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that its judgment in the case of Gillan and Quinton is final. This judgment found that the stop and search powers granted under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 amount to the violation of the right to a private life.

The Court found that the powers are drawn too broadly – at the time of their initial authorisation and when they are used. It also found that the powers contain insufficient safeguards to protect civil liberties.

The Government cannot appeal this judgment – although we would not have done so had we been able. We have always been clear in our concerns about these powers, and they will be included as part of our review of counter-terrorism legislation.

I can therefore tell the House that I will not allow the continued use of section 44 in contravention of the European Court’s ruling and, more importantly, in contravention of the civil liberties of every one of us. But neither will I leave the police without the powers they need to protect us.

Since last Wednesday, I have sought urgent legal advice and consulted police forces. In order to comply with the judgment – but avoid pre-empting the review of counter-terrorism legislation – I have decided to introduce interim guidelines for the police.

I am therefore changing the test for authorisation for the use of section 44 powers from requiring a search to be ‘expedient’ for the prevention of terrorism, to the stricter test of it being ‘necessary’ for that purpose. And, most importantly, I am introducing a new suspicion threshold.

Officers will no longer be able to search individuals using section 44 powers. Instead, they will have to rely on section 43 powers – which require officers to reasonably suspect the person to be a terrorist.

And officers will only be able to use section 44 in relation to the searches of vehicles. I will only confirm these authorisations where they are considered to be necessary, and officers will only be able to use them when they have ‘reasonable suspicion’.

These interim measures will bring section 44 stop and search powers fully into line with the European Court’s judgment. They will provide operational clarity for the police. And they will last until we have completed our review of counter-terrorism laws.

Mr Speaker, the first duty of government is to protect the public. But that duty must never be used as a reason to ride roughshod over our civil liberties. I believe that the interim proposals I have set out today give the police the support they need and protect those ancient rights.

I commend this statement to the House.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police Press Bureau

Following today’s statement by the Home Secretary in relation to new guidelines around the use of stop and search under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 the Metropolitan Police Service will not seek to renew the current authorisation to use the power at this stage.

The current authority expires at 23.59 hours tonight (Thursday 8 July) and Metropolitan Police officers will not use the power after this time until further notice.

Public safety remains our top priority and we will continue to use all other powers available to us to keep London a hostile environment for terrorists.

Police officers continue to have the power to stop and search anyone who they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act.

We will continue to work closely with the Home Office and other police forces throughout the ongoing review of CT legislation.

The World Tonight – BBC Radio 4 (Starts at 27m 37s)

Rules on stop and search changed – BBC News

Anti-terror stop and search powers to be scrapped – The Guardian

Section 44 is dead, says Home Office – British Journal of Photography

Stop-and-search criteria tightened – Press Association

There was a great turnout at the Victory Flashmob on Sunday with around 60 of us happily snapping away, free from police harassment. We’ve rounded up some of the coverage from the flashmob below, post a link in the comments if we’ve missed anyone out.

Images © Jonathan Warren, Jess Hurd & Marc Vallée 2010

Photos

• PHNAT Victory Flashmob 4 July – Kevin Blowe/Copwatcher
• Photographer NOT a Terrorist – Dave Nash/GnasherUK
• Victory Flashmob – Section 44 is Dead! – Mike Hellers
• Victory Flashmob – Section 44 is Dead! - David Mery/acrostich
• PHANT Victory flashmob – Tim Brechin/the-tick
• PNAT victory flashmob - Louise Whittle/HarpyMarx
• S44 flashmob – Rudy Cech

Reports

Photographers ‘flashmob’ Scotland Yard over terrorism law – Amateur Photographer

For Immediate Release

Event: Outside New Scotland Yard, 4 July 2010, 12 Noon.

Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights rejected the Governments appeal to it’s decision in January that ruled Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It follows a series of high profile incidents of police harassing photographers. Last Friday the Metropolitan Police accepted liability and paid compensation for a breach of Article 10 when they prevented photojournalist Marc Vallée and videographer Jason Parkinson from covering a demonstration outside the Greek Embassy in 2008.

On Saturday a 15 year old was stopped photographing army cadets parading in Romford by police claiming they did not need any powers to detain him, he is now taking legal advice about the incident.

And today the Home Office said it was reviewing it’s procedures for photographing people in public order situations as the Financial Times revealed that the police held criminal intelligence reports on people who had not been convicted of any crime. Including Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and Fiyaz Mughal, interfaith and extremism adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Campaigners from the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! group have called a flashmob outside New Scotland Yard this Sunday 4^th July at 12 noon to celebrate the ECHR ruling and call on the Government to repeal s44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

One of the organisers of Sunday’s flashmob, Jess Hurd said:

For street photographers the battle against the misuse of the terrorism laws has been frustrating and at times absurd.

The abuse of these laws has united amateur and professional in defence of press freedom and civil liberties. We will not be intimidated by these unjust laws that pick on innocent citizens, and criminalise photography.

We urge all those who have been stopped since the original ruling in January to seek legal representation through their respective organisations.

Penny Quinton’s & Kevin Gillan’s victory against s44 in the European Court of Human Rights has been a long struggle for justice, achieved with the support of the NUJ and a committed legal team. It is a major success that should be celebrated across society.

Photographers are organising an ‘Im a Photographer Not a Terrorist’ Flashmob this Sunday, at noon, New Scotland Yard to celebrate our victory and determination not to be harassed by this, or any other law. Please join us.

Notes to Editors

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! Is a campaign run by photographers for anyone who values visual imagery. It was set up in 2009 in response to new terrorism laws preventing the photographing of police officers. In January it organised a mass photo gathering in Trafalgar Square that attracted over 2,000 photographers from across the country.

Journalists win payout after police admit failing to respect press freedom – The Guardian

Officers claim they don’t need law to stop photographer taking pictures – The Independent

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

Judges reject government appeal over stop-and-search – BBC News

Contact

Jess Hurd – 07713 151765

hello@photographernotaterrorist.org

http://PhotographerNotaTerrorist.org

http://twitter.com/phnat

ENDS