The Metropolitan Police has settled with three journalists detained and stopped from covering a Black Lives Matter protest in London in 2014.
Video journalist Jason N Parkinson, photographer Jess Hurd and another unnamed photojournalist, all members of the National Union of Journalists, have accepted an apology and out-of-court settlement from the police force.
But they criticised the fact key evidence was seemingly lost meaning the case took more than nine years to settle and noted that UK police have issued many such apologies after hindering the work of journalists.
Hundreds of people took part in a protest at the Westfield shopping centre in London’s Shepherd’s Bush on 10 December 2014 in honour of Eric Garner who was killed by a police officer’s chokehold in July that year. Garner’s last words were “I can’t breathe” and inspired hundreds of protests in the US and Europe, of which this was the first of its kind in the UK.
The journalists were confined along with protesters and filmed as they read out details from their press cards and were released. They were then told to leave the area, preventing them from reporting on the subsequent arrests of 76 protesters.
Hurd reported that she was hit in the face by a police officer in the events leading up to the detention.
According to Rachel Harger of Bindmans Solicitors, who acted on behalf of the journalists, the Met has now accepted that the three NUJ members felt they were “subjected to state surveillance for reporting on political protest”.
‘Journalists should be able to work without fear of violence’
Hurd said: “This was not the first time that I have been assaulted by a police officer while working as a press photographer. I thought my case would be clear cut because I was assaulted by one of two evidence gatherers, both recording with body-cams and a videocamera.
“It seems impossible to me that all the footage of our illegal detention, from which we were filmed with our press cards when leaving, and my assault both went missing.
“We will not have access to justice until the police are accountable for their actions. This means not losing key evidence.
“Whilst I welcome the apology from the Metropolitan Police, it reads just the same as all other apologies. Journalists should be able to work without fear of violence and targeting by the police.”
Parkinson also welcomed the settlement and apology but shared similar concerns about the footage and the length of time the case has taken.
“We repeatedly requested all the footage of the police evidence gatherers and body-cams from that night and yet none was ever released,” he said.
“Then towards the end of the case in September 2023 we were told the MPS had discovered new footage and would release it after it was reviewed. Two months later we were told there was no new footage. Our lawyer said either ‘they haven’t properly retained it or it’s been lost.’
“The Met Police were also repeatedly asked to explain the whereabouts of the footage and why it was not properly retained back in 2016. No response was ever given.
“How is it possible that vital evidence is not retained or lost in such a huge case surrounding 76 people being mass arrested?
“This apology is nothing that we have not seen many times before, the same words and the same assurances. Yet we have seen more journalists arrested while doing their jobs in the last year than I have witnessed in my entire 20-year career. We are 26th on the World Press Freedom Index, below South Africa. That is not a good position to be in for a so-called democracy.”
Hurd and Parkinson are also both part of an ongoing legal action by six journalists against the Met for holding surveillance information about them on a national “domestic extremism” database. That legal challenge was launched in November 2014, before the Black Lives Matter protest.
NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “While we are pleased this has been resolved and the police have apologised, the fact that it has taken so long to get to this stage is wholly unacceptable.
“Journalists must be allowed to do their job without any police interference and without their safety being compromised. The NUJ will continue to make this abundantly clear to the Metropolitan Police Service and other forces, and will carry on representing and supporting members who have been treated unfairly.”
Black Lives Matter and Just Stop Oil protests arrests of journalists
Journalists were arrested and even assaulted at numerous protests in the US relating to the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Wednesday it was announced two Los Angeles Times journalists had settled with the Minnesota state for $1.2m after being “cornered and attacked” during a protest over the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
In September last year five press photographers, including British journalist Adam Gray working for SWNS, achieved a settlement with the New York Police Department after they were each assaulted and/or arrested covering protests in the summer of 2020.
The settlement meant the NYPD was obligated to implement policies and training to ensure members of the press are free from the threat of wrongful arrest and harassment.
In May 2021 photojournalist Nick Stern, originally from the UK, alleged police officers “assaulted, battered and shot” him with rubber bullets as he tried to cover protests in Los Angeles.
In the UK there has been a spate of arrests of journalists especially at the scenes of environmental protests.
Photographer Peter Macdiarmid received a payout from Surrey Police last month after he was handcuffed and detained for several hours while covering a Just Stop Oil protest at an M25 petrol station in August 2022.
A MyLondon reporter spent seven hours in police custody two days later after being arrested covering a petrol station protest in Hammersmith.
In November that year four journalists – LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch, documentary maker Rich Felgate and photographers Tom Bowles and Ben Cawthra – were arrested in the space of two days by Hertfordshire Police while covering protests on the M25. A review found their arrests may have constituted “unlawful interference” in their freedom of expression.
MPs later added greater protections for journalists covering protests to the Public Order Bill.
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