The Joint Committee on Human Rights has called for steps to be taken against police officers who fail to follow the nationally agreed police/media guidelines. This was one of the calls we made when giving evidence to the Committee and we're pleased to see it has been taken up. On the back of the apology from Kent Police over their treatment of journalists at the Climate Camp protests and the call from the Met Police Federation to stop mpoliticians using thye police for political purposes and the recent expose in The Guardian of police surveillance of journalists it adds to the pressure on police and politicians to lay off media personnel trying to do their job in the face of a clampdown on dissent.
Let's hope it starts to change the behaviour towards journalists covering protests (and towards peaceful protestors!). It couldn't come at a better time with the wave of G20 protests coming up. See you at the Put People First march on Saturday...
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