UK photographers protest against anti-terror law

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116923§ionid=351020601


Around 2,000 British photographers have staged a rally in London, protesting the UK's new controversial terrorism laws that warrant stop and search by police.

The photographers gathered in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday to express their discontent over the country's Terrorism Act 2000, which grants the police further authority to impinge on photographers' privacy.

The demonstrators said Terrorism Act 2000 is not being “sensibly” implemented by law enforcement officers, according to BBC.

They waved placards reading, "I am a photographer, not a terrorist" and flashed their cameras in a symbolic gesture.

"We're coming together to show solidarity and to show that we won't be intimidated" by the implementation of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, CNN quoted Jonathan Warren, a self-employed photographer and a founder of Saturday's campaign, as saying.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the "coercive powers" of the counter-terrorism law and identified the Act as a breach of human rights.

Participants at the rally reported repeated police intrusion of their activities on grounds of fighting 'terrorism.'

British media say under the new legislation, police stopped and searched around 36,000 people between April and June last year alone.