British Photographer Arrested for "antisocial behaviour".

[AcadieLibre]

Amateur British photographer is arrested for "antisocial behaviour". He films the whole incident, so glad I do not live in Britain these acts of harassment seem to be on the rise everywhere but no more so then Britain where the Government has cameras and films people all the time but if your a photographer I would be arrested on a frequent basis because I would not be willing to have my rights robbed from me. This just seems to be getting out of hand, worth watching. And WTG to the photographer for standing up for his rights.

Photographer films his own 'anti-terror' arrest | UK news | The Guardian

[Bambi]

Good heavens this is rediculous!! these anti-terror laws terrify me!

[Greg_Nuspel]

I wonder if I would get arrested there taking tourist photos? I think England may suffer a drop in tourism if this keeps up.

[Iguanasan]

And the really sad thing is that this is far from the first occurrence and will likely not be the last. Not sure I'd want to go to jail for this but kudos to him for standing up for his rights.

[Marko]

AND KUDOS to A.L. for sharing this..... and so I am sharing it with others as well.

I facebooked it on my personal page, the ph.ca fan page and i tweeted this.

Could you even IMAGINE what would have happened to this guy had he looked LESS white and tried to protect his rights?
He could have been jailed indefinitely.

This video REALLY made me angry.

[F8&Bthere]

Others may disagree, but I think this kind of thing could happen anywhere, including USA and Canada. Which is why it makes me laugh when people talk about our land of freedom and democracy.

What I see in this video is an abuse of authority that boils down to petty emotions of an idiot police officer that felt like her authority was being challenged, and should have used some discretion and just walked away.

Marko mentions imagine if he was of colour. But in fact I think that would have helped him actually since the white officer would have been more aware of the potential racism/harassment issue. This is afterall, the world of extreme political correctness.

Just imagine a little old lady with a point'n'shoot doing the exact same things as this fellow did (deemed to be antisocial). Wouldn't have even been noticed. I think the fact he was male, with a male friend, and probably looked like more than just the average tourist as a result of that and having (I'm assuming) a big DLSR, he attracted attention and it only became "anti-social" when he refused to give the officer his name and address.

Pisses me right off.

P.S. The reason I think gender can play some role in situations like this is when one tries to think of all the things that can be immoral, illegal, or insidious about taking pictures (terrorism, espionage, perversion, etc) I think more of them would normally lead to suspicion of men over women.

[Iguanasan]

Oh, it has and it does happen here. I point to my short little story as evidence: Run in with the police

I was polite and quite forthcoming with my information rather than taking the high road our Brit. friend did so I got off easy knowing, however, that there is now a file somewhere with my name in it :(

[Marko]

Others may disagree, but I think this kind of thing could happen anywhere, including USA and Canada. Which is why it makes me laugh when people talk about our land of freedom and democracy.

Very very true - though more likely in the USA than Canada imo.

Marko mentions imagine if he was of colour. But in fact I think that would have helped him actually since the white officer would have been more aware of the potential racism/harassment issue. This is afterall, the world of extreme political correctness.

This I disagree with. 'Homeland security' trumps political correctness in this day and age.

We are going back quite a few years...but i was randomly stopped, searched and released at a US border crossing once. In the area where others were waiting for their searches was a sea of 'minority looking' faces.

[Bambi]

I travel frequently by air for work (my 'extra' job not my pay-the-bills-job). My last name is hyphenated with a Lebanese name ('cause my husband is of Lebanese heritage). I am 'randomly' selected to be searched on over 50% of my flights. Which seems to be high number for 'random'. I now factor it into my travel schedule.

Once an agent yelled out my husbands last name and said 'where's _____'. I put up my hand and she said, you have been randomly selected for a search.

yeah right.

[F8&Bthere]

... This I disagree with. 'Homeland security' trumps political correctness in this day and age.

Yes, probably true, but I've read about documented scenarios in UK and North America where minorities are getting away with things that others would more than likely be detained or prosecuted for...such as goings on during rallies or protests, flag burnings, etc. So yes, homeland security may trump political correctness, but certainly not eliminate it's influence in the dynamics of such situations. If it did, the term racial profiling wouldn't exist and little old ladies wouldn't have to take their shoes off at airport security.

Edit- just since it seems I didn't express this correctly, I'm not saying racial profiling, homeland security, discrimination don't exist, of course they do. Note the word "If" in the sentence above. I'm saying that political correctness to the point of reverse discrimination also exists. And sorry, but it is on topic the way any thread is conversation it can ebb and flow in diff directions. It's not like I started discussing ebola monkey virus or something.