Hundreds of photographers flooded Trafalgar Square in London today in support of the 'I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!' mass photo gathering.
The gathering was a protest against the police using anti-terror laws to harass photographers taking pictures in public places.
It follows a series of detentions of photographers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act including police detaining an architectural photographer in the City of London, the arrest of a press photographer covering campaigning Santas at City Airport and the stop and search of a BBC photographer at St Paul's Cathedral.
Pics: Jon Slattery
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4 comments:
Thanks, Jon. Are you going to send some pix to the bulletin of the NUJ's freelance branch? Today's was an odd demo: in the absence of police harassment, there was no action, apart from a pathetic effort by a tiny gang of plastic plods. And since there were no speakers, none that I saw or heard, hundreds of fotogs were forced to photograph one another, to be immediately re-photographed by the tourists. How very postmodern.
Thanks Scot. A journalist told me it was the politest demo they've ever seen.
Scot, there were intentionally no speakers, and intentionally everyone photographed each other. That's the point. It's brilliant.
I hate to be unhack-like but I agree with both Jon & Rich: whoever saw such a polite demo? Our police are failing us. I'd still say that a demo does need a focus, even if just one short speech. My pix of yesty's demo lack the quality of yours, Jon, but I've just sent one to the Freelance; the bulletin's low print quality may make the feebleness of my pic unimportant. Down with Section 44.
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