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Tourists Or Terrorists? Police Erase London Sightseers Photographs Citing Terrorism
- Text size
Two Austrian tourists visiting London were forced to erase large portions of their holiday photographs by police officers who told the pair that they were duty bound to “prevent terrorism”.
Klaus Matzka and his teenage son Loris sparked concern with two London Metropolitan police officers when they were witnessed snapping pictures of Vauxhall bus and underground station.
The pair were then forced to delete all pictures they had taken which had anything to do with transport, including pictures of London’s iconic red double-decker buses.
Matzka, a 69-year-old retired television cameraman with a taste for modern architecture, was told that photographing anything to do with transport was “strictly forbidden”, The London Guardian reports.
The policemen also recorded the pair’s details, including passport numbers and hotel addresses.
Mr Matzka detailed the experience in the letters section of the Guardian under the subject heading Police, protest and the surveillance society:
During a recent visit to London I had a nasty incident, which killed interest in any further trips to this city. As I was taking pictures of double-decker buses with my son, we were approached by two policemen. First, we were told that it is forbidden to take pictures of anything in conjunction with transport. Then our names, passport numbers and London hotel address were noted. After that we were forced to delete all pictures that included any transport – even pictures of the new underground station in Vauxhall, which is a modern sculpture! These deletions were not only enforced destruction of private property, but an infringement of our privacy.
I understand the need for some sensitivity in an era of terrorism, but isn’t it naive to think terrorism can be prevented by terrorising tourists?
Klaus Matzka
Vienna, Austria
In a telephone interview from his home in Vienna, Matzka said: “I’ve never had these experiences anywhere, never in the world, not even in Communist countries.”
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Mr Matkza has said that he will never visit London ever again after the incident.
Despite police pronouncements that photographing buildings and transport facilities is “forbidden”, there is no actual law that says so.
This is not an isolated incident, it has been ongoing for some time.
One year ago, close to 200 MPs signed up to an Early Day Motion introduced in the House of Commons by Austin Mitchell, urging the ‘Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers to agree on a photography code for the information of officers on the ground, setting out the public’s right to photograph public places, thus allowing photographers to enjoy their hobby without officious interference or unjustified suspicion’.
The motion was introduced after the Metropolitan Police launched an advertising campaign calling for citizens to report any ‘odd-looking’ person taking pictures – to the disgust of both amateur and professional photographers, who say they are increasingly demonised.
The Met Police’s Anti-terrorist posters, which are worse than Cold War era propaganda, and a spoofed response endorsed by the British Press Photographers’ Association.
As we have also reported today, 62-year-old Malcolm Sleath from London was detained as a terror suspect this week simply for taking a photograph of a police car in order to document police misconduct.
The general population are literally treated as terrorists for photographing police misconduct, however it is absolutely fine for the police to use cars with telescopic spy cameras on a mast in an attempt to catch and fine drivers talking on their mobile phones, eating, applying make-up or otherwise driving illegally.
The nature of Mr Sleath’s detainment has raised questions about whether police were enforcing 58A of the 2000 Terrorism Act, a passage replicated in the 2008 Counter Terrorism Act.
This section contains ambiguous language which suggests that merely filming or photographing police officers is an act of terrorism. When journalist organizations expressed fears that this law could effectively outlaw a huge part of their profession, they were told by PC Alan Cousins of the Metropolitan Police Film Unit that the law would not impede them.
As of February 17, Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act also prohibits photographing police and permits the arrest of anyone found “eliciting, publishing or communicating information” relating to members of the armed forces, intelligence services and police officers, which is “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
Essentially, under anti-terror laws, anyone caught photographing police could face a fine or a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Journalists have reacted fiercely to the provisions, which the police have been pushing for for some time. The British Press Photographers’ Association, the National Union of Journalists and the National Association of Press Agencies have all voiced concern that it has now become routine for police to conduct surveillance of reporters and photographers covering demonstrations in London and across the country.
Journalists covering protests say they are being targeted by police surveillance officers, using the anti-terrorism legislation, more so than the actual protesters.
A recent Guardian investigation confirmed this and revealed that police target protesters and journalists precisely because they have the ability to film and photograph them. In response the police are taking their own surveillance footage and routinely uploading it onto a database, storing details for at least seven years.
Because police appear not to have disclosed such activity, lawyers believe it likely that the technique is in violation of privacy rights under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.
Below is a short video summarising the Guardian’s findings. Note how the brainwashed police declare that they trust the journalists “less than the protesters” and announce that they think it’s wrong that “they think they can just wander in and out of the bloody field” at the protest. The officer with the camera also has the temerity to find it suspicious that one of the journalists doesn’t like having his picture taken.
Also Related: “I’m A Photographer… Not A Terrorist” – a short film by Jason N.Parkinson
Such moves are not restricted to the UK police, for some time now authorities in New York have been moving toward a blanket ban on all forms of filming in public.
Camera crews are routinely threatened with arrest for filming peaceful demonstrations and cops have been caught stealing cameras from photographers and independent reporters.
It seems that filming and photographing is now deemed to be a threat per se. Pick from any number of stories archived at www.freedomtophotograph.com for example.
The crack down on photography and filming in the name of “counter terrorism” is just one more startling example of how we the people are the real targets of such freedom stripping legislation.
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April 16th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
i claim this post
April 16th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Why do the brits put up with these nazi gestapo police state in england?? They need to be flipping cars and making noise! you know how you can take out them cameras?? It’s called a microwave beam . you can build one from a old microwave look at what is coming in the future if we let this technology police us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....annel_page By the way technology in this vid is already in wide use.
James Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 2:44 am
Put the media in their place. Write a micro letter to the editor on http://hookk.com
Lets face it, sometimes they get it right and they deserve commendation but we also have to make them accountable when they are not doing their job.
You can write a hookk and have people comment on your point of view. It’s really smooth and easy to use and there is no sign up. It’s a must use for avid readers of the news.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
So they can film us, but we can not film their crimes? On a public street paid for by us?
There needs to be a universal site where folks can post these police infractions all on one website.
Track them with name, date, circumstance, place etc
April 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
And if the people put up with it then they are giving their approval. They deserve it.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
we are slowly being outlawed….ohh well…we know who holds the truth…patriots all around the world are reading between the lines……we freemen shall seize the day….and by the way, we infowarriors are not in anyway proponents of small-minded race hate groups…we want freedom for all…ALL…..WE DON’T BLAME RACES…HOW STUPID AND FEEBLE MINDED…to reach the masses ya can’t go alienating ever little group of persons for idiotic reasons….this only divides…read the constitution/bill of rights….read up on Mr. Jefferson…understand the republic, and learn the basic principles that stand the test of time….in any age…….unless you would like to live as a serf under a global technological feudal system….for if you do….shove off!… come meet me under the elm tree
April 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Ya see—this is what meth does to the gov’t. Cops told me once that they love injectables.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
THE PEOPLE GET THE GOVERMENT THEY DESERVE and we have got a terrible one DONT SAY A LOT FOR US DOES IT fuck football fuck tv fuck music wake the fuck up people
April 16th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
TERROR is good for any government excuse!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
My God I thought it was bad in Australia but this UK Police film is unbelievable. Dose any one need any more proof that Big Brother and the NWO are here? Why would they be so worried about what the Press takes footage of? 1984 is here in spades.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I’m amazed by the tolerance the citizens of the U.K. have for being controlled and oppressed. It will continue and increase for as long as the people are willing to tolerate and endorse it. When they cease to think of themselves as mere “subjects” and claim their human rights, then, and only then, will it change for the better!
April 17th, 2009 at 1:01 am
lets kll em all!
April 17th, 2009 at 1:15 am
NAZI U.K.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:01 am
It is just a way of terrorizing the public. Of course a real criminal could have used an invisible camera hidden somewhere. But the British use to follow the law and respect the authorities, doesn’t matter how stupid or oppressive…
April 17th, 2009 at 6:09 am
They keep telling us that those who have nothig to hide have nothing to fear, so why are they trying to stop us filming them. What are they hiding.
Fuck ‘em. If you live opposite a Freemason lodge, set a webcam on the entrance, let’s see how many UK coppers are part of a secret organistation the oaths to which supersede all others, to the crown for instance.
The mood is fast changing in the UK……
Beck smacker Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am
“the mood is fast changing in the UK” hahahahahahahahaha, what, your changing your brand of tea?” We call the French cowards, you Brits are poster children for sheep.
April 17th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Her Majesties Terrorism Act say’s (albeit in different words). I am a Pig.
Licensed by Her Majesty The Queen to treat you like shit.
And there is Fuck All you can do about.
http://www.sxolsout.110mb.com/twarn.html
April 17th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Welcome to 1984
Terrible isn’t it? This is when blogging is just not good enough. The cops or corrupt government do not care what we type up here or any other site…they still follow their plan through.
We are not terrorists, we are journalists and photographers! You scummy 5-o!
April 17th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Heil Hitler
April 17th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Sorry, The saying goes “Beware the Marxist/Fascist Axis, as their shit smells the same”.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:50 am
do what you want. fuck. give up.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
this is total bullshit, if erasing photos from a tourists camera is preventing terroism then they need to delete all the 360degree photos of england on google earth. i can go 3d to the streets of london. If i was a terrorist google earth is my perfect planning t0ol.
April 17th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
“Welcome to 1984″
We’re not there yet. The battle is ongoning. When Mark Thomas was speaking it was 16th Feb. They cannot enforce the law against filming the police whilst teh Ian Tomlinson case is ongoing. That one is never going away. teh IPCC won’t work fast they will take ages.