Arrests prompt concern

The NUJ journalists’ union joined nine more organisations to highlight the “chilling effect” on freedom of expression after Hertfordshire police officers arrested journalists covering the Just Stop Oil protests last month.

Three journalists were wrongfully arrested for “suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance”.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, together with signatories from organisations including Amnesty International, Liberty and Index on Censorship, wrote to home secretary Suella Braverman and urged her to reconsider plans under the Public Order Bill, currently making its way through Parliament.

They say officers making the arrests clearly knew the individuals were journalists and the action threatens press freedom in the UK.

“Arresting journalists for simply attending a demonstration is unjustifiable, unlawful, and highly likely to be a breach of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights as incorporated into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998,” they added.

The offence of intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance was placed on a statutory footing by the draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which was opposed by many unions (see Labour Research, June 2021, pages 9-11).

The signatories to the letter to Braverman say the arrests “regrettably evidence our concern that this power is dangerously broad and poses a threat to British democracy and respect for fundamental human rights”.