Journalists and photographers in the United Kingdom are preparing a protest on the 16th February. The object of their protests is a new law that allows for the arrest – and potential imprisonment – of anyone who takes pictures of police officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’. If found guilty the result could be imprisonment for up to 10 years.
The Home Office argues that the Terrorism Act 2000 already makes it an offence to ‘collect or make a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’ and that the new law will not change anything. However, photographers fear that the Counter-Terrorism Act will, by explicitly mentioning constables, give more power to police officers to stop photographers, including press photographers, from taking pictures in public places.
Read more about this and how to participate at the British Journal of Photography.