Just Stop Oil Arrests
Two press photographers and a documentary film maker were arrested whilst covering protests by the campaigning group Just Stop Oil on Monday 7th November.
Tom Bowles and Ben Cawthra, both members of The BPPA along with BECTU member Rich Felgate were handcuffed and removed from two separate locations by Hertfordshire Police. A member of The BPPA’s Board has spoken to both photographers and, based on their accounts, we can report the following:
Tom and Rich were detained by the police at 10.44am, accused of suspicion of conspiracy to cause a nuisance. Tom wasn’t given a chance to offer an explanation for being at the location, nor was his UK Press Card acknowledged.
He was taken into custody and held until 1.20am the following morning and was released with no further action. Whilst in custody and speaking to his solicitor he found out that his house had been searched. This turned out to be by three male officers from St Albans. His wife and 14 year old daughter were both anxious about what had happened as they were woken to be confronted by this. His release papers said that he had been detained as he had been “Intentionally/recklessly causing a public nuisance.”
During his custody Tom repeatedly asked that his UK Press Card should be verified and when they eventually complied they informed him that his card had ‘failed verification’ although the police officers involved did not ask for his verification PIN. We have since checked and his card would have passed had they used his PIN. We have raised this with the UK Press Card Authority.
Ben’s experience was very similar. He was arrested at 8.15am after showing his press card, and having broken no law was still placed in custody. On arrival at the station he was told that his partner would be called but this didn’t happen. He had to push them to call her and they finally complied around 3pm – at approximately the same time that he had his first communication with an investigating officer. It wasn’t until his lawyer contacted them that things started to move along, which he believes was around 5pm. He was finally released at 11.30pm.
This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that this has happened. The arrest of Peter Macdiarmid covering a similar protest is still an ongoing matter.
The BPPA is deeply concerned that police forces are ignoring the UK Press Card and, more worryingly, are ignorant of what it is and what it represents. By arresting news gatherers they are going against a long-standing tradition of allowing the media to independently report the news. We sincerely hope that this is out of ignorance of how to identify members of the press and not a new policy of blinding society.
Still image taken from a video courtesy of Rich Felgate showing press photographer Tom Bowles being arrested by a member of the Hertfordshire Police Force minutes before Rich was himself arrested.
UPDATE: We have now written to the Home Secretary, various Members of Parliament and other senior figures who have the power and/or influence to help make sure that this doesn’t happen again. See the letter here
