NUJ pursue police over harassment
The National Union of Journalists is studying plans to file multiple complaints against the police for excessive use of force against photographers and journalists, BJP has learnt.
The complaints relate to the G20 protests of early April when members of the Metropolitan Police allegedly assaulted Union members while they were covering the 01 and 02 April protests.
Roy Moncoff, the NUJ's senior legal officer tells BJP that the Union is still gathering information from its members. 'We may take legal action in relation to the assaults. We may similarly do that in relation to the "kettling" (police coralling),' Mincoff says in a statement.
'We don't accept that those two hours in the G20 were situations where they couldn't allow those that were carrying proper press cards from moving out from within the cordon once they had shown their identification. We will be informing the Independent Police Complaints Commission of our members' complaints and we are taking the matter up with the minister.'
The Union is also considering action against the police for the use of section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 against press members. According to photographers contacted by BJP, police ordered them to move away from the action, citing Section 14 of the Act, as they prepared a charge on demonstrators using police dogs.
The incident occurred while police were looking to move and arrest demonstrators on 02 April, and is thought to be the first time Section 14 has been used to corral journalists.
Section 14 gives police the power to impose conditions on assemblies 'to prevent serious public disorder, serious criminal damage or serious disruption to the life of the community'. Under the act, the police can impose the location and duration of a public assembly, as well as the number of people taking part in it.
The Metropolitan Police has already apologised to photographers through BJP and The Guardian for the use of the act. 'It should not have been used specifically against photographers, and they should have been able to stay (in the immediate area) after showing their press cards,' a spokeswoman told BJP earlier this month. 'The Metropolitan Police apologises if that was not the case' (BJP, 08 April).
However, the NUJ is still considering legal action over the use of the act, according to Moncoff.
The Union was also supposed to meet officially with representatives of the Metropolitan Police to discuss the aftermath of the G20 protests. However, no one at the Union was able to confirm to BJP that the meeting would now go ahead.
