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Met Police will investigate officer who grabbed photographic equipment at Greek Embassy Protests

Posted: 12/12/08 By: Judith Townend

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The Metropolitan Police will investigate the officer featured in video from the London Greek Embassy protests in London on Monday December 8.

The police officer is shown grabbing a photojournalist's camera and blocking the video camera of another reporter who was attempting to film his actions.

"The officer featured in this clip will be investigated regarding his conduct with a member of the media," a spokesman from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) said, in a statement seen by Journalism.co.uk.

"There are clear service guidelines that all officers are expected to adhere to that protects the rights of media.

"The MPS seeks to protect the interests and rights of media to do their job, through educating all our staff within the Service.

"Before every operation all our staff are briefed as to the role of the media and wherever operationally possible to facilitate them. This was a spontaneous demonstration that at points included outbreaks of disorder, which required an emergency response from police," the statement said.

As Journalism.co.uk reported on the Editors' Blog on Wednesday, photographs by Philip Caller (as left, (c) Philip Caller 2008, www.flickr.com/photos/filkaler/) document a police officer holding the photographic equipment of photojournalist Marc Valleé.

The protest, which resulted in five men being detained by the Metropolitan Police, began in response to the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Athens and attracted around 40 people to the embassy in Holland Park, West London, as reported by Sky News and BBC News.

This newly released video uploaded on Current TV by freelance photo and video journalist Jason Parkinson, shows a police officer placing his hand over Parkinson's video camera lens and lifting Vallée's camera from round his neck.

The officer tells the journalists 'you cannot film me or I can film you'.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has spoken out against the police treatment of the journalists at the protest and stated that it received reports that 'at least one of its members suffered physical injury as a result of their handling by the police', according to a spokesman in a release.

Video embedded below:

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