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Journalists arrested covering protest
THREE JOURNALISTS were detained and held in cells while covering a protest by Just Stop Oil on the M25 motorway on Monday 7 November. Photographer Tom Bowles was arrested with documentary film-maker Rich Felgate, who published video on Twitter showing the pair peacefully reminding police that they are journalists and were filming from a public area - a bridge over the motorway. LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch also reported on Twitter that she had been arrested on 8 November and detained for five hours.
Tom and Rich were held for 13 hours. Tom reports being particularly concerned that "three male officers turned up at my house, woke my wife and daughter, and searched it at 11pm."
Tom Bowles attempts to explain to a police officer
It all blew up rather quickly, which is gratifying. By tea-time on 9 November the Irish News reported that Rishi Sunak - at the time of writing UK Prime Minister - had said that it is "vital" that journalists are able to do their job freely, "without restriction". The chief constable of Hertfordshire Police asked for another force to review the arrests.
The officers may indeed have been a little confused. The Press Gazette reports one saying that Tom and Rich were being arrested under Section one of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) - which allows a police officer to stop, detain and search someone if the officer believes they will find stolen or prohibited articles.
The Freelance observes that the detention of Pennie Quinton - later LFB Chair - while filming a protest at an arms exhibition in London's Docklands led, in the end, to the overturning of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 following a ruling at the European Court of Human Rights.
NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet commented: "The NUJ is disappointed to hear of the breach of journalists' rights at recent Just Stop Oil protests. Film makers and photographers play an important role in relaying accurate information and quality journalism to members of the public. Journalists have every right to protect their sources and should not be pressured into revealing private communications."
10 November 2022
David Lloyd is the elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire and a Conservative. He was interviewed on LBC radio this morning and said: "Your editorial policy needs to reflect on whether or not we want to be part of the problem, which is how Just Stop Oil manage to get their message out there so very successfully." - according to Political Editor Theo Usherwood. LBC correspondent Rachel Venables reports him complaining that journalists are giving Just Stop Oil the "oxygen of publicity" - while stressing that he supports "a free press".
For background, respected prison rights campaigner Frances Crook responded: "I met David Lloyd when he was first elected. I was working on reducing suicides in custody. He said it didn't matter if people hanged themselves in police or prison custody, as it was cheaper than processing them."
12 November 2022
The European Federation of Journalists - of which the NUJ is a member - says "a worrying number of journalists arrested" in climate protests. It protest these recent UK arrests and quotes the the Spanish union FeSP: "The arrest of two journalists for taking pictures of a protest at the Prado Museum is a totally disproportionate measure... They should be released and the right to information should prevail."
And the NUJ has joined with nine other organisations writing to the Home Secretary. It calls on her "to commission an independent review into the new public nuisance offence and both pause and reconsider plans to curtail individuals' right to freedom of expression through the Public Order Bill, which will disproportionately affect communities for whom this right is most urgent".
14 November 2022
NUJ member has written up his arrest at a Stop Oil protest in August for Index on Censorship, and noted other journalists' arrests around then.
More follows as we get it...