A radio journalist who was masking a Just Stop Oil protest has advised of how she was handcuffed by police, arrested and locked up in a cell for 5 hours for “just doing my job”.
Charlotte Lynch had been reporting on the activists for LBC from a street bridge over the M25 for round 45 minutes when she was approached by two officers.
She confirmed them her press card and defined she was reporting on the demonstration, however the officers handcuffed her, took her cellphone and arrested her on conspiracy to commit a public nuisance.
Ms Lynch known as her ordeal “absolutely terrifying” and mentioned it was “blindingly obvious” she was doing her job.
Her arrest on Tuesday comes after a photographer and filmmaker mentioned they have been held in police custody for round 13 hours for masking a protest staged by the group.
Hertfordshire Police has been accused of “effectively shutting down the free press” and has mentioned will probably be requesting for an impartial power to “examine our approach”.
Ms Lynch mentioned she was searched on the facet of the street by junction 21 in Hertfordshire earlier than officers seized her gadgets and took her to a police station in a custody van.
She mentioned: “Got to Stevenage police station, that journey took over an hour because of the M25 being closed.
“I used to be at the back of a police van, handcuffed, my palms have been in entrance of me, handcuffed all the time, alone, the 2 cops have been behind the glass cage.”
She then advised of being held for 5 hours earlier than officers launched her with no additional motion.
‘Cell with a pad for a mattress’
Ms Lynch mentioned: “It was absolutely terrifying being in a cell with a pad for a bed in one corner and a metal toilet in the other.
“I used to be simply doing my job. What’s additionally terrifying is what this implies for press freedom. It was blindingly apparent I used to be a reporter.”
Documentary maker Rich Felgate and photographer Tom Bowles had been capturing the activists on a footbridge over the M25 near Kings Langley in Hertfordshire on Monday when they were handcuffed.
The pair, both of whom say they have no affiliation with the group, had their equipment seized and were taken to a police station, despite efforts to show their press cards.
Mr Bowles, 47, from Hackney, east London, said he was held until 1.30am, hours after his wife and 14-year-old daughter were woken up as three officers searched their home.
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, the former shadow attorney general, told LBC: “If the police at the moment are going to start out arresting journalists for conspiracy to commit a public nuisance – in different phrases for understanding {that a} demonstration is about to happen – then they’re successfully shutting down the free press, the free media, on this nation.
“And that means the public don’t get the opportunity to judge for themselves whether the police have policed a particular demonstration well or badly, or indeed whether the protesters behaved well or badly.
“So that is very, very critical.”
Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, said: “Journalists should not get arrested for doing their job.”
Read more:
Just Stop Oil’s message for the public
Police officer injured while responding to protest
Matt Warman, the Tory MP for Boston and Skegness, tweeted: “It’s extraordinarily exhausting to grasp why the police would arrest a journalist. I hope a fuller clarification or an apology is supplied very quickly.”
Hertfordshire Police said it “recognises the issues over the current arrests of journalists” and is “requesting an impartial power to look at our method” to “establish any studying we must always take” in such situations.
The force added: “Additional measures at the moment are in place to make sure that professional media are capable of do their job.”
Source: information.sky.com”