Alan Lodge's Blog

Following the Enclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries, many of the highest and wildest areas of moorland and mountains – previously common land open to all – ramblers without a permit were often forcibly evicted. Engaging in a spot of direct action up on Kinder Scout in 1932, 400 walkers from Sheffield and Manchester met a line of some 30 keepers and scuffles resulted.

Six were arrested and charged with public order offences. At trial, Benny Rothman said: “We ramblers, after a hard week’s work in smoky towns and cities, go out rambling for relaxation, a breath of fresh air, a little sunshine. But we find when we go out that the finest rambling country is closed to us, just because certain individuals wish to shoot for about ten days a year.”

A century-old campaign for the cherished “freedom to roam” across mountain and moorland was reached with the long awaited passing of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act in December 2000.

During news coverage, incidents and situations are frequently attended by police. I have attended news conferences, armed situations and public order incidents. The opening of police stations and civic engagements.

Within this set, you can see some specialist police units in action, scenes of crime officers, drug confiscation, underwater search unit and the helicopter. I have always had an interest in police surveillance methods and equipment used. Have covered many protest and public order situations, examples here include union and cuts protests, right-wing / EDL demonstrations, prevention of gatherings at Stonehenge. Environment protest and the policing action at Ratcliffe-on Soar power station. I have been called to give defence evidence in court.

As a cyclist myself, I have always been interested in major events such as ‘The Tour of Britain’ and the ‘Milk Race’. These are quite prestigious events with the winners being honoured with a cheque and the customary champagne fizzy shower, [resulting in me having to wipe down my cameras before damage!]. Just as enthusiastic, I find youths doing their stunts, down at the skate park.

The National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont is home to assorted canoeing and kayaking competitions including those held by the British Canoe Union and the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. Some here are athletes preparing for inclusion in the British teams to the Olympic Games. Nottingham has also been holding Dragon Boats races along the River Trent.

Also contact sports which includes Shrovetide ‘Mob’ Football event in Ashbourne Derbyshire. A fine anarchistic and weird event going back perhaps for nearly a 1000 years. There is loads of violence, but not too much animosity.

Today would have been the Shrovetide ‘Mob’ Football event in Ashbourne Derbyshire. It’s off of course this year… as you can see the difficulties in maintaining any ‘social distancing’. So, here is a selection from past years. I have been to it for many years, it is a fine anarchistic and weird event going back perhaps for nearly a 1000 years. I have frequently take younger photographers with me. There is loads of violence, but not much animosity. It thus good training, in that if you can keep your ‘sealegs’ in this situation, then you can do toe to toe with the Metropolitan police more effectively!

Have been beavering away, here in the webcave, to update and improve my main website. Because of recent difficulties that photographers are having with the law [ yet again] I have updated my advice page about it all. Have just checked all the links for those that want to go at it in any depth.

Latest Stonehenge photo-zine with Cafe Royal Books

£7.85 inc postage. https://paypal.me/alanlodge
See other Zine ‘pageturners’ in my Playlist @ https://bit.ly/3joI6Up

Thanks xx

Had my Covid_19 jab this morning …. all is well.

https://www.channel4.com/news/zimbabwe-anti-corruption-song-dem-loot-goes-viral

Priti Patel has refused to criticise the arrest of a journalist for photographing a peaceful protest outside a controversial asylum centre, despite the case being dropped.

In the Commons, the home secretary was urged to review police guidance following the detention of Andy Aitchison and agree that he “should have a clean record as he has committed no offence”.

Instead, Ms Patel appeared to back the arrest – before claiming she could not comment further for legal reasons, even though the journalist will face no further action.

“All decisions on arrests are an operational matter for the police, and the police make arrests in line with their duties to keep the peace and to protect the community,” she told MPs.

Read more

• ‘It’s censorship’: Journalist arrested after photographing protest outside controversial asylum camp

The arrest of Mr Aitchison, first reported by The Independent, after he shared photos of the demonstration outside Napier military barracks in Kent, which now houses asylum seekers, sparked fears over press freedom.

Protesters held up signs saying “Close Napier now” and “Priti Patel There will be blood on your hands” after at least 120 men at the barracks tested positive for Covid-19.

Six hours later, five police officers arrived at Mr Aitchison’s nearby home and arrested him, in front of his children, on suspicion of criminal damage.

A media freedom alert was filed with the Council of Europe and submissions have been made to the UN special rapporteur on human rights over Mr Aitchison’s treatment.

During Home Office questions, the Conservative MP Damian Collins, who represents the constituency where Mr Aitchison lives, raised his case, highlighting how the photographer was “held for questioning for seven hours”.

“The police confiscated his mobile phone and photo camera card and last Friday the charges were dropped and case closed,” he said.

He asked Ms Patel to “agree there should be a review of the guidance given to the police before action like this is taken against accredited journalists” – and that Mr Aitchison had “committed no offence”

In reply, the home secretary said it was a matter for Kent Police, before claiming: “I’m afraid, at this stage, that’s all I can say because an arrest has been made.”

Ducking the call for new guidance, she told Mr Collins: “I have no doubt that Kent Police will continue to keep all interested parties, including my right honourable friend, updated.”

Read more

• Case dropped against journalist arrested after taking photos of protest outside controversial asylum camp
• Priti Patel says government should have closed borders last March to stop coronavirus
• Priti Patel accused of dodging parliament over police computer record loss
• Lockdown: Priti Patel unable to define ‘local’ in tangled defence of Boris Johnson’s bike ride

Mr Aitchison told The Independent he was “disappointed” by Ms Patel’s response and her refusal to commit to a “much needed” review of guidance for police in handling accredited journalists.

“She does not seem to acknowledge the significance of my unlawful arrest. She seems to suggest that my arrest was in line with keeping the peace and protecting communities, which is obviously untrue as I was merely doing my job and documenting a peaceful protest,” he said.

“I am concerned that the wrongful arrest of journalists reporting on sensitive issues will continue. This seems to be a repetitive issue for many journalists, particularly photojournalists, and it has to stop.  

“The freedom to report seems even more pertinent during a lockdown where people are unable to move about freely.”

Criticism has been mounting about conditions at the Ministry of Defence site since it was repurposed in September for housing hundreds of asylum seekers.

Residents have been banned from leaving the camp since mid-January because of the Covid outbreak, and the protest came before a fire that Ms Patel suggested was started deliberately.

Ian Murray, director of the Society of Editors, criticised the police action, saying: “We are constantly told journalists, including press photographers, are an essential part of our democratic system in this country and a free media is to be protected.

“But words are not enough. It is actions that count and arresting press photographers is not something that should be happening in a liberal democracy.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/priti-patel-journalist-asylum-centre-protest-b1799294.html

https://www.nuj.org.uk/news/nuj-calls-on-journalists-to-back-foi-campaign-with-subject

or more accurately, avoiding the issues …….

Damian Collins MP, formerChair of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, speaking in the House of Commons to the Home Secretary : “Would my right honourable friend agree there should be a review of the guidance given to the police before action like this is taken against accredited journalists”

Book Layouts : An Assortment

“The Carousel Tapes, Podcast!! A series of conversations with the creative people that work with The Carousel. Check out the first episode with photographer Alan Lodge aka. Tash here.. https://www.thecarousel.co.uk/tct

Under new government proposals, police in the UK will be allowed to seize homes and arrest Travellers who refuse to move from unauthorised camps. A new law which effectively criminalises intentional trespass and imposes sentences of up to three months and fines of up to £2,500 will disproportionately affect Travellers, who are recognised as an ethnic group under the Race Relations Act.

Police will direct Travellers to leave sites on which they have no permission to stay, even when there are no alternative stopping places for them. The number of caravans that’s deemed to constitute an unauthorised encampment has been reduced in the new proposal from six to two.

The government justified the legal change in a 2019 consultation paper, which described the need to respect the “feelings” of the local settled community, business owners and landowners. This explanation would seem to ignore the feelings of people who don’t conform to this very narrow definition of the British public. So why is the government changing the law? And why now?

The European Court of Human Rights has long recognised the right to live in a caravan home as a fundamental component of British Gypsy identity. This is protected by the right to a home life under Article 8 of the human rights convention – effective in UK courts under the Human Rights Act 1998. Nevertheless, many Travellers have found it impossible to continue their way of life in the UK due to the absence of authorised stopping places.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 removed the statutory duty on local authorities to provide stopping places for Gypsies. At the time, I reviewed responses to the consultation paper and found that farmers, the police and landowners were overwhelmingly opposed to abolishing the duty. Why? Because they worried it would actually create rather than reduce trespass.

An obvious solution to unauthorised encampments would be a return to this statutory duty. Not only would it be cheaper, as there’d be less enforcement involved and fewer legal challenges, but it would help make damage to public land and antisocial behaviour, such as dumping rubbish and damaging fences, less likely. Much of this currently happens because of deliberate obstacles placed in the way of access points to land and the absence of public amenities on these unauthorised sites. Most importantly, it would protect the rights of Travellers and enable families to access public services.

The government is currently leading a public consultation on unauthorised encampments. A freedom of information request by the campaign group Friends, Families and Travellers revealed that 84% of police respondents didn’t support criminalising these encampments and 94% called for providing sites as the solution. This echoes the reasoning of Sir Stephen Sedley, then a high court justice, in a legal challenge to planning provisions in 1995.

Another explanation for unauthorised encampments is the difficulties that Travellers face in obtaining planning permission on their own land. In one case heard by the European Court of Human Rights, it was reported that 90% of applications made by Gypsies in the UK were refused, compared to an average of 20% for other planning applications. The most recent official count found 2,049 caravans on land owned by Travellers that had not obtained planning permission.

A hostile environment

It’s difficult to understand why criminalising families and confiscating their homes should be a priority, especially during a pandemic. The official count of Gypsy caravans in January 2020 found a mere 3% of Gypsy and Traveller caravans in England were in unauthorised encampments. Rather than being a growing concern, this marked a decline of 20% from the previous count in January 2019.

Powers already exist under sections 61-62E of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to allow officers to direct those in an unauthorised encampment to leave land if their encampment consists of six or more vehicles or the landowner has asked them to move and they’ve caused damage or been abusive. The police can also direct an encampment of at least one caravan to move where the local authority can provide a pitch elsewhere.

In legal cases brought by Travellers contesting evictions and planning rules, such as Chapman and Connors, the European Court of Human Rights observed that the vulnerability of this community meant that special consideration should be given to their needs. Since the decisions of this court must be taken into account by British courts under section 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998, it’s very likely that criminalising trespass will lead to future legal challenges.

These proposals will almost certainly conflict with the human rights of Travellers – but they’re also likely to be unworkable for those given the job of enforcing them. While heaping more misery on some of the UK’s most vulnerable communities, criminalising trespass will also exacerbate conflict with settled residents. As Justice Sedley noted, respecting Travellers’ way of life is about respecting our common humanity.

https://theconversation.com/criminalising-trespass-will-hurt-travellers-most-but-government-proposals-fail-on-their-own-terms-153749

A Slideshow 60mins. 400pics Festivals, Travellers, Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Free Party, Policemen and …….. >>

to everything else ….

https://alanlodge.co.uk/hub