Photography is Not a Crime

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UK photographers protest crackdown against public photography

January 25th, 2010 · 2 Comments



By Carlos Miller

More than 2,000 photographers took to the streets in London Saturday in protest against the ongoing crackdown against public photography.

It was more than twice the size of last year’s protest when less than a thousand photographers took to the streets to demonstrate against the introduction of the new law that made it a terrorist act to photograph police in public.

The law is part of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act of 2000, which allows police to stop and search people even though they do not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the law to be illegal, but the British government is appealing the decision, meaning they have no plans to stop harassing photographers and law-abiding citizens.

But even police organizations are not in accordance with the law and believe that it is being abused.

According to the BBC.

Shortly before Christmas, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, the head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police, warned officers they risked losing public confidence if they did not use the Section 44 powers sensibly.

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2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 The Dude Dean // Jan 25, 2010 at 1:34 AM

    These are dark times we live in.

  • 2 Tom Jones // Jan 26, 2010 at 4:43 PM

    You can’t photograph public places that have already been photographed anyway, but your government brings in thousands of Muslims who hate your culture and way of life and then does not monitor the mosques.

    Simply Brilliant!

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