Britain’s National Union of Journalists called for “immediate action” from police chiefs on Wednesday to protect press freedom after the arrest and detention of four journalists covering a Just Stop Oil protest on London’s M25 motorway.
The arrests have prompted an outcry from press associations and human rights groups, which said they were part of a wider assault on civil rights in the UK.
Two press photographers, Tom Bowles and Ben Cawthra, and documentary film-maker Rich Felgate were handcuffed and taken way by Hertfordshire police on Monday, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a nuisance, according to the British Press Photographers’ Association. This was despite repeated attempts to show their press cards, it said.
Felgate was held for 13 hours before being released, and the home of Bowles was searched by police in the night while he was in custody for a similar amount of time, the association said.
Separately on Tuesday, LBC radio reporter Charlotte Lynch was arrested and detained for covering the protests by environmental activists, which have disrupted traffic across several counties during the past three days.
Lynch wrote on Twitter: “I showed my press card, and I was handcuffed almost immediately. My phone was snatched out of my hand. I was searched twice, held in a cell for 5 hours.”
Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ’s general secretary, accused the Hertfordshire police of threatening press freedom and disregarding the right of journalists to cover protests.
“No reporter or other bona-fide news gatherer should fear being placed in a cell for doing their job. We now call upon the National Police Chiefs’ Council to take immediate action to ensure this is prevented in future by all police forces.”
The capital’s Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday a total of 22 activists had been charged in connection with the protests. Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, said the government was “moving ahead with legislation to give the police the powers they need to stop this type of extremist protesting, disrupting the lives of working people”.
Hertfordshire police defended its action saying the M25 protesters, who are demanding an end to new oil and gas exploration licences, were causing “significant disruption and potential harm to hundreds of thousands of people”.
The dangerous nature of “guerrilla tactics” deployed by the protesters was highlighted on Wednesday when an officer was injured in a nearby collision on the motorway said home secretary Suella Braverman, who gave her support to the police.
However, Hertfordshire police chief constable Charlie Hall acknowledged concerns over press freedom and said “additional measures” were being put in place to ensure the media are able to do their job.
Hall has also requested an “independent force to examine our approach to these arrests and to identify any learning we should take in managing these challenging situations”, Hertfordshire police said.
Jun Pang, policy and campaigns officer at the human rights group Liberty, described the events as “concerning” and said they had been “enabled and encouraged by the government’s wider, continued assault on protest rights”.
Pang referred to the recently passed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which has bolstered the police’s ability to clamp down on protests, and the government’s new public order bill, which aims to crackdown on the tactics of climate activists.
Downing Street said: “The freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy. It is vital that journalists are able to do their job freely.”