Photographers are set to demonstrate in London on the 23rd of January.
Under the campaign group Photographer, Not a Terrorist, what could be thousands of photographers are set to demonstrate in Trafalgar Square, London, in defence of street photography.
It comes after a series of high profile cases of stop and searching of photographers, under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The group, on it’s website, says:
Our society’s visual history is under threat of extinction by anti-terrorism legislation. Section 44 of the Terrorism Act has in effect ended the confidence of the citizen to engage in the act of photography in a public place as photographers, artists and illustrators, amateur and professional are harassed by police invoking terrorism legislation to stop and search them. The act of documenting our street scenes and public life, our built environment, whether iconic or not, is now considered to be an act of hostile reconnaissance and could result in the detention of the image-maker.
Also today, under a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, the power to stop and search someone under section 44, without suspicion, is illegal.
If you are attending the demonstration on the 23rd of January, or you have been stopped and searched, please can you contact me on andrew.stuart1@me.com, and I will get back in touch with you.
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