News
A photojournalist who was suing the Metropolitan Police for battery and breaches of his human rights has accepted a written apology and an out-of court settlement. Police officers injured Marc Vallée when he was taking photographs of the ‘Sack Parliament’ demonstration protest in
Parliament Square in October 2006. Vallée was taken by ambulance to ’ hospital where he received treatment. He sued Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, for battery and for breaches of the Human Rights Act 1998 relating to freedom of expression and assembly.Hickman Rose partner, Chez Cotton, Vallée’s solicitor, says: “This was an extremely unpleasant incident. Neither the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police or his officers has any legal power, moral responsibility or political responsibility to prevent or restrict what the media record. Mr Vallée is a well-respected photojournalist, lawfully present to photograph a political protest outside parliament, yet he was brutally prevented from doing so by the police.” His legal costs will also be met by the police.
Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, which backed Vallée’s case, says: “It is disgraceful that the police brutally obstructed a member of the press from reporting on a political demonstration. Press freedom is a central tenet of our democracy so Marc Vallée’s treatment by the police is deeply worrying. The Met needs to take a close look at what must be done to ensure its officers respect journalists’ rights.”
