{"id":6792,"date":"2022-11-23T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6792"},"modified":"2022-11-25T17:18:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T17:18:38","slug":"senior-officers-ordered-unlawful-arrests-of-journalists-at-just-stop-oil-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/archives\/6792","title":{"rendered":"Senior officers ordered \u2018unlawful\u2019 arrests of journalists at Just Stop Oil protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Review finds arrests of four journalists covering climate protests last month were directed by senior officers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Police
Four journalists were arrested during the Just Stop Oil protest, which saw protesters climb gantries above the M25 motorway. Photograph: Just Stop Oil\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Damien Gayle<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@damiengayle<\/a>Wed 23 Nov 2022 18.34 GMT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior police officers ordered the potentially unlawful arrests of four journalists detained while covering climate protests on the M25, a review has found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review makes clear that the arrests of the LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch, the press photographer Tom Bowles, the film-maker Rich Felgate and one other person who has not been named were not simply an overreaction or a mistake by police officers on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their arrests were instead directed by more senior officers at Hertfordshire constabulary, who had formulated a policing plan that failed to take into account the likelihood that journalists may be on the scene, the review said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolice powers were not used appropriately,\u201d said the review, carried out at the request of Hertfordshire constabulary after accusations that the arrests this month were a threat to press freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe review team believed that the bronze [policing] plan almost exclusively endorsed arrest as the only intervention available to officers,\u201d it added. \u201cThis approach did not differentiate between people and did not consider the balance of rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, it said, \u201cthere is evidence to suggest the potential for the arrests to amount to an \u2018unlawful interference\u2019 with the individuals\u2019 freedom of expression under article 10\u201d of the European convention on human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review comes two weeks after questions were raised in parliament and a spokesperson for the prime minister expressed his unease at the arrests of journalists on the scene as supporters of Just Stop Oil<\/a> climbed gantries over the M25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All four journalists were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in relation to the protests, despite their having been challenged by police while on a public footpath and all showing officers valid press IDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review, by the chief superintendent of Cambridgeshire constabulary, John Hutchinson, noted that officers on the ground cannot exercise their powers of arrest simply on the say so of a senior officer, unless the superior has conveyed \u201csufficient information in order for the arresting officer to develop reasonable grounds\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review said: \u201cThe evidence in this case indicates officers were directed to arrest and did not develop sufficient grounds prior to exercising their power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving reviewed the evidence and the information available to the officers at the time, there seems to be a disconnect as to how they arrived at the outcome they did. The interactions of officers suggest that arrest was the likely outcome regardless of the information obtained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the widespread coverage of Just Stop Oil across the media, Hertfordshire constabulary\u2019s plans for the M25 protests had failed to take into account the possibility that journalists would be on the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was believed that officers had a lack of understanding as to the role of the media and how they operate,\u201d the review said. \u201cThe Just Stop Oil activity spanned at least four other police forces, none of whom arrested members of the press.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Blowe, a campaigns coordinator at Netpol, said he was not surprised that the arrests had been ordered by senior officers. He said Hertfordshire constabulary\u2019s actions fit a template where police forces\u2019 approach was to \u201cdisregard people\u2019s rights to protest \u2026 and to deal with any fallout later\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review showed the actions of frontline and senior officers were potentially unlawful, Blowe said. \u201cYet nobody is individually accountable for what amounts to false imprisonment and that just leaves a civil action, which the police will settle in a couple of years\u2019 time without admitting liability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBasic questions about how to protect the right to protest and the rights of those who monitor and report on demonstrations are rarely asked. All the police are interested in is what is convenient for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief constable of Hertfordshire constabulary has written to the wrongly detained journalists saying he is \u201ctruly sorry\u201d for his officers\u2019 actions. He wrote: \u201cWhile policing public order incidents is fraught with difficulty and there was no malicious intent from my officers, on this occasion we clearly got things wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun Pang, a policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: \u201cA free, independent press is a vital part of a functioning democracy and should not be interfered with. The actions of Hertfordshire police arresting journalists covering protests was a dangerous overreach \u2013 indeed, this report acknowledges that \u2018police powers were not used appropriately\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut these recent arrests of both journalists and protesters must be placed within the wider context \u2013 they have been enabled and encouraged by a government that keeps handing out sweeping powers to the police, creating a hostile environment for protesters and an increasingly dangerous working environment for journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2022\/nov\/23\/senior-officers-ordered-unlawful-arrests-of-journalists-at-just-stop-oil-protests<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review finds arrests of four journalists covering climate protests last month were directed by senior officers Damien Gayle @damiengayleWed 23 Nov 2022 18.34 GMT Senior police officers ordered the potentially unlawful arrests of four journalists detained while covering climate protests … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[837,182,1371,177,818,114,1372,466,360,1383,95,48,234,1384,93,1376],"class_list":["post-6792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1","tag-unlawful","tag-arrest","tag-arrests","tag-journalist","tag-journalists","tag-just","tag-m25","tag-nuj","tag-officers","tag-ordered","tag-police","tag-protest","tag-protests","tag-senior","tag-stop","tag-stopoil"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6798,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792\/revisions\/6798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}