Harrasment of photographers
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Revision as of 13:02, 14 October 2006
Harrasment of photographers for taking photos in plublic places is becoming more common.
Contents |
Photographers
White Plains, Westchester County, NY
March 21, 2006 As a freelance photographer, Ben Hider carries his camera with him just about everywhere, and so it was on Friday, as he was heading to the train station in White Plains he stopped to snap some beauty shots on the flags in front of the court house. That's when his trouble began.
Ben Hider, Photographer: "Three police officers ran at me, immediately, telling me to stop where I was."
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4012289
Torance CA
Judge calls Torrance police actions 'disturbing' in detention of photographer
Jan 24,2006 A federal judge on Monday urged better training for Torrance police after calling the conduct of officers involved in the April detention and search of a man who was taking photographs of a refinery "disturbing."
U.S. District Judge George King made his comment at the end of a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Redondo Beach resident Jim McKinniss, who contends that police patted him down, took pictures of him, took his thumbprint, and asked if he was a "terrorist" after he was taking photographs of the Exxon-Mobil refinery from a sidewalk along Prairie Avenue. He was not arrested.
NYCLU sues city over right to shoot video, pictures in public
The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the city on Tuesday, challenging restrictions on people's right to photograph public places after an award-winning filmmaker from India was blocked from videotaping near the MetLife building.
In its lawsuit, the civil rights group highlighted the plight of Rakesh Sharma, who said he was left feeling ashamed and humiliated when he was detained in May 2005 after police saw him use a hand-held video camera on a public street in midtown Manhattan.
NYCLU sues city over right to shoot video, pictures in public
Portsmouth VA
In December of 2003 I was in Portsmouth Virginia. From the Jordan Bridge, Elm Ave. across the middle reach, you could see into the shipyard where the Enterprise had a huge lighted sign on it’s bow: “SEASONS GREETINGS”. By the bridge, there is a public park, on the east side of the reach; I went there during the day and from the sidewalk took some pictures of the carrier and the bridges. A gentleman accosted me for taking the pictures; when this happens to you it is a real shock; someone is accusing you of being a terrorist. He demanded my identification while he was just in street clothes, no uniform or id showing. I gave him one of my business cards and walked away, he was angry that I still had the photos.
Manchester, N.H. January 2006
There's a shiny new airport in Manchester, and I'm there to take pictures as part of an article I'm working on for that mouthpiece of liberal fascism, the Boston Globe. I've shot about six digital pictures, and I'm working on the seventh -- a nicely framed view of the terminal façade -- when I hear the stern "Excuse me." A young guy in a navy windbreaker steps toward me. It says AIRPORT SECURITY in block letters across his back. "You can't do that. You need to put the camera away."
Protesters
Arrested Bush dissenters eye courts
When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration's policies.
Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?
Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.
Authorities say they were arrested because they refused to obey reasonable security restrictions, but the women disagree: "Because I had a dissenting opinion, they did what they needed to do to get me out of the way," said Nelson, who teaches history and government at one of this city's middle schools.
"I tell my students all the time about how people came to this country for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, that those rights and others are sacred. And all along I've been thinking to myself, 'not at least during this administration.'"
Their experience is hardly unique.
Similar things have happened at official, taxpayer-funded, presidential visits, before and after the election. Some targeted by security have been escorted from events, while others have been arrested and charged with misdemeanors that were later dropped by local prosecutors.
Now, in federal courthouses from Charleston, W.Va., to Denver, federal officials and state and local authorities are being forced to defend themselves against lawsuits challenging the arrests and security policies. While the circumstances differ, the cases share the same fundamental themes. Generally, they accuse federal officials of developing security measures to identify, segregate, deny entry or expel dissenters.
Jeff Rank and his wife, Nicole, filed a lawsuit after being handcuffed and booted from a July 4, 2004, appearance by the president at the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston. The Ranks, who now live in Corpus Christi, Texas, had free tickets to see the president speak, but contend they were arrested and charged with trespassing for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts.
"It's nothing more than an attempt by the president and his staff to suppress free speech," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia, which is providing legal services for the Ranks.
"What happened to the Ranks, and so many others across the country, was clearly an incident of viewpoint discrimination. And the lawsuit is an attempt to make the administration accountable for what we believe were illegal actions," Schneider said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Bush_Protesters.html
Ferndale Cops Say: Don't Honk if You Want Bush Out.
Granny ticketed in Ferndale sign flap
20 July, 2006 Nancy Goedert, 73, of Ferndale became the second protester in a matter of weeks to be issued a citation for demonstrating on the corner of 9 Mile and Woodward in Ferndale.
Goedert was cited Monday as she carried a sign that read "Police Say Don't Honk for Peace," mimicking Eastpointe resident Victor Kittila's sign that led to his arrest July 3.
He had been carrying a sign urging motorists to "Honk if You Want Bush Out," but Ferndale police had asked the activist to stop encouraging drivers to honk. So Kittila, 55, changed his message to "Ferndale Cops Say: Don't Honk if You Want Bush Out."
Drivers honked anyway.
Goedert, a member of the social justice group Raging Grannies, was cited for being disorderly because her sign incited motorists to honk, which violates a city noise ordinance.
Goedert said Kittila's arrest motivated her to carry the sign and prompted larger crowds of protesters to turn out. About 50 people showed up Monday and 300 on July 10. The gathering is usually about 12.
Police Capt. Timothy Collins said Wednesday the main concern was public safety.
"We just don't want people to entice people to honk," he said. "The reason being that we don't want to startle drivers. It took great pain to explain this to" protesters "and not to make it an anti-protesting thing."
Goedert said: "This is our First Amendment right. I think that we Americans have been in danger of losing our civil rights on the federal level all the way down."
William Wertheimer Jr., an attorney from Bingham Farms who specializes in First Amendment law, said key questions are whether honking is an expression of free speech or if it endangers people.
"People are asserting their First Amendment rights to say what they want to say, but the city has an interest in keeping noise down," he said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060720/NEWS03/607200434/1005/NEWS
Peace activist arrested after Ferndale protest
07 July, 2006 "Ferndale Cops Say: Don't Honk if You Want Bush Out."
That message, scrawled in permanent marker on a piece of poster board, got antiwar activist Victor Kittila arrested in Ferndale -- a move some say violated his First Amendment rights. But police say he was breaking the law. Either way, he says that next Monday, he'll be back.
The Eastpointe resident is one of a handful of activists who meet for an hour weekly on Mondays at Woodward and 9 Mile to peacefully protest the war in Iraq. They had always carried signs urging motorists to "Honk for Peace."
But about three weeks ago, after receiving several complaints from motorists, Ferndale police asked the activists to stop encouraging drivers to honk their horns, which state laws say should be use only for necessary situations.
So, Kittila, 55, changed his message from "Honk if You Want Bush Out" to "Ferndale Cops Say: Don't Honk if You Want Bush Out."
"People still honked," said Kittila, who has been protesting at the site for two years. "The noise was deafening." And Monday, the Police Department took action. At about 6 p.m., after the protest, Kittila was walking to get ice cream with fellow activists, his wife and his 13-year-old daughter when an officer approached them. The officer was going to issue Kittila a ticket, but he resisted when the officer tried to take his sign, police said. Kittila, who said the officer threatened to use a stun gun, was arrested for disorderly conduct and later released on a $500 bond, police said. He has not yet been formally charged.
Ferndale Police Chief Michael Kitchen did not return calls for comment Thursday. But Sgt. Casey O'Loughlin said there has been a steady stream of complaints about the activists since they started protesting about four years ago. He said the honking sometimes confuses drivers, who might think there is an approaching emergency.
Kittila isn't sure whether he'll make a new sign for next week's protest because he now recognizes that the city has a noise ordinance, which he may have been violating by encouraging motorists to honk.
He said his protests help raise awareness about what's going on in the world. "Why have a roadside protest if someone can't honk to show support?" he said.
"It's the whole purpose of it," he said, even though Michigan's vehicle code indicates otherwise.
The code says drivers, when it is reasonably necessary to ensure safety, should give audible warning with their horns, but should not otherwise use them when upon a highway.
Kittila's attorney, Deborah Choly, likened the protest signs to "Honk If You Love Jesus" bumper stickers. "It clearly is a violation of rights, and there was no crime committed," she said. "This sign was used as part of a political protest. It does not violate any norms of decency. It didn't even violate the request that the police had made of this group not to encourage drivers to honk."
Ferndale City Manager Tom Barwin said that through the years the protesters have received support and even encouragement from local elected officials. He said that two large protests earlier this year -- one related to the war, the other about national health care issues -- that were held in that intersection may have prompted the Police Department to more stringently enforce the state law to protect drivers.
Kim Redigan, 48, an activist who was with Kittila when he was arrested, said she was shocked because Ferndale police had always been supportive. She said they'd often honk or flash peace signs as they drove past.
"We were so dumbfounded by this," said Redigan, a Dearborn Heights resident. "We were blindsided." Barwin said officials in Ferndale -- which calls itself the city of peace -- would not violate someone's civil rights.
"People have the right of assembly," he said. "It's healthy."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060707/NEWS03/607070333&SearchID=73249977741378
At Wellesley, arrest over chalk writing leaves a mark
Wellesley College senior Hadley Smith began the night of April 12 with her hands full of rainbow-colored chalk and ended it in the town police station.
As part of the Wellesley College Peace Coalition, Smith, 22, and other students spent the early evening scrawling onto the town center's sidewalks peace signs and quotations from Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Someone followed them back to their dormitory, copied down the license plate number of the car Smith was driving, and contacted Wellesley police, according to the police report.
That led to an evening in jail for Smith and her fellow students, an experience that has led to misgivings on the campus of 2,300 students about the way police handled the incident. A spokesman for Wellesley police said the students were not mistreated.
Parker said college administrators suggested that students start up a dialogue with local police, but she has not followed up on the idea and has encouraged angry students to put their energies toward peace activism instead.
Our encounter with them demonstrated that they're not interested in dialogue," she said. I'm not giving up on them, but it was a very intimidating experience."
