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Photographers to gather in London for street photography rights

More than 1000 photographers are expected in Trafalgar Square on Saturday to defend street photography rights and call for the government to repeal anti-terrorism powers that have been been used against photographers

The campaign group I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist has called on photographers to gather on 23 January in Trafalgar Square in London. 'The use of Stop & Search without grounds for suspicion has been ruled illegal by European Court of Human Rights,' say the organisers. 'This ruling from Strasbourg comes as thousands of photographers are set to gather in London on Saturday 23 January to take mass action to defend their right to photograph after a series of high profile detentions under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.'

They add: 'Our society’s visual history is under threat of extinction by anti-terrorism legislation. Section 44 of the Terrorism Act has in effect ended the confidence of the citizen to engage in the act of photography in a public place as photographers, artists and illustrators, amateur and professional are harassed by police invoking terrorism legislation to stop and search them. The act of documenting our street scenes and public life, our built environment, whether iconic or not, is now considered to be an act of hostile reconnaissance and could result in the detention of the image-maker.'

Already, more than 1400 photographers have pledged to attend the event, which will kick-start at noon. BJP will be there to report with regular updates on the 1854 Twitter feed.

For more information, visit the event's Facebook page.

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