[CIMC-working] (fyi) FW: Photogs Allege Police Aggression at NYC Rally

[Chris Kaihatsu]

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From: "viviane" <vlerner@interpac.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 16:31:18 -1000
To: "KBOO" <pmnews@kboo.org>
Cc: "Rad Times" <resist@best.com>, "Network of East-West Women"
<neww@neww.org>, "Common Dreams" <news@newscenter.org>
Subject: Photogs Allege Police Aggression at NYC Rally

 [Many pics on site]

 http://villagevoice.com/issues/0309/cotts.php
Press Clips
by Cynthia Cotts
Cops Stop Photo Ops
Photogs Allege Police Aggression at Rally
February 26 - March 4, 2003


Daily News photographer Susan Watts was knocked down on the job at the
February 15 anti-war rally. See all the photos here.
(photo: Rob Bennett)

click for full series

ayor Bloomberg may love the way the NYPD handled the February 15 anti-war
rally, but how do photographers who covered the rally rate the NYPD? Lensme=
n
expect a certain amount of roughing up at rallies, even a broken lens or
two, but some are calling this one too rough. Photogs from Britain and Main=
e
felt disrespected and the Daily News complained that police mistreated two
of its staff photographers. At times, police denied photographers access,
forcing them into some areas and out of others, particularly when arrests
were under way. Some cops viewed anyone with a camera as a target for verba=
l
or physical aggression.
There is a smoking gun behind these allegations: photos of police pushing a
Daily News photographer, taken by New York-based freelance photographer Rob
Bennett. (One of Bennett's shots appeared on page two of the February 16
Daily News, and more of the photographs can be viewed here.) The News
reported that staffer Susan Watts was photographing police making arrests a=
t
the intersection of 53rd Street and Third Avenue when, according to Watts,
"a cop charged at me and put his hand over my lens and pushed me down to th=
e
ground." The accompanying photo shows a uniformed officer with his arm
stretched toward Watts as she falls in the street. Watts was not hurt, but
one of her cameras was ruined.

In a statement, News spokesman Ken Frydman announced that the paper has
"complained in writing" to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly about how
police treated both Watts and News photographer James Keivom. (Keivom was
ticketed for disorderly conduct at the rally.) According to Frydman, Kelly
has assured the News that "these incidents are being thoroughly investigate=
d
in two separate investigations." The News is "pleased" by the response so
far and "does not believe these incidents reflect a pattern of behavior."
Watts and Keivom declined to comment. NYPD spokesman Michael O'Looney
confirmed that an Internal Affairs investigation is under way.

The police definitely used "rough tactics," said Peter Coltart, a
24-year-old photographer who traveled from Maine to New York to cover the
rally. Coltart, who carries a press pass from the Lewiston Sun Journal,
spent several hours in the packed blocks of the East Fifties, watching
police push the demonstrators around. "Sometimes when I put a camera up,
they'd be more careful," he said, "but other times if I tried to take a
picture, they would either put their hand up or tell me to move along."

Coltart claimed that one officer knocked him down three times and another
picked him up off the street and threw him. The first incident occurred at
an intersection where protesters were densely packed on the sidewalk, facin=
g
a line of cops on foot and on horseback. The police were pushing people bac=
k
so buses and cranes could come through. "I was standing there taking
photographs," he recalled. "Me and the cop were facing each other and the
cop said, 'You've gotta move.' " The next thing he remembers is, "I got
knocked down by a police officer. I was on the ground, got up, and got
knocked down again. I was knocked down three times and trampled on by other
protesters."

Later, Coltart arrived on a side street where protesters had begun a mass
sit-down. Police were telling people to get up and arresting them if they
did not. "I saw this guy lying down getting arrested," Coltart recalled. "I
ran out toward the street, got on my stomach in front of the guy, and poppe=
d
off two frames. Then all of a sudden, I was floating. A big cop reached
down=97he must have weighed over 200 pounds. I weigh 150. He grabbed my jacke=
t
with one hand and picked me up. I kept shooting. He threw me back into the
crowd. I don't think I landed on my feet."

The NYPD had its own photo staff at the rally, equipped with digital and
video cameras. Indeed, one of Bennett's photos shows a cop with a video
camera trained on Susan Watts. "They had complete freedom to take pictures
of whatever they wanted," Coltart noted, "but when we took photos, they
pushed us down."

For some cops, verbal harassment seemed to suffice, as when a member of the
police press office ordered a newspaper reporter to leave a tense scene. Th=
e
reporter, who asked to remain anonymous, recalled he was standing on the
sidewalk, talking on his cell with his NYPD press pass in full view, as
police surrounded a group of protesters and forced them against a building.
Suddenly an officer started yelling, telling him to get off the block. The
reporter objected at first, then left. Moments later, he said, "the same
officer came up and said, 'You'll never wear one of my credentials again.' =
"

Another target of intimidation was Paul Mattsson, a 42-year-old from London
who contributes to the photo agency Report Digital. Mattsson, who has
covered demonstrations for 20 years, said, "I've been hassled, beaten up,
shot at, and arrested. I've had cameras smashed by police and protesters.
But nobody has ever told me that I'm not allowed to do my job."

Two days before the rally, Mattsson went to the press accreditation office
of police headquarters to apply for a temporary NYPD press pass. He showed
two press cards, one issued by the British National Union of Journalists an=
d
recognized by the British police, the other issued by the International
Federation of Journalists. But, he said, the man behind the counter looked
at him and said bluntly, "You can't work here."

The day of the rally, Mattsson said, the organizers gave him credentials
that allowed him to work in the enclosed area surrounding the stage. Then h=
e
saw the man he met at police headquarters doing a press check. Again the ma=
n
told him, "You can't work." The man directed Mattsson to a police press bus=
,
where other officers helped him get where he wanted to go.

Later, Mattsson asked for permission to cross a roadblock. He said that as
he was taking out his international press card, one officer began tapping
his baton and "gesticulating with it" in a threatening way, refusing to let
him proceed. "Do you speak English?" the officer asked. Later, at other
roadblocks, the police "kept giving me grief [about his credentials]. They
would not tell me where there was a clear way around. I spent two hours
going in a circle. . . . I missed a lot of the action I came to cover."

NYPD lieutenant Elias Nikas said the department does not issue temporary
press passes, but British journalists did attend the rally and had their
cards honored. As for Mattsson's being told, "You can't work here," Nikas
said, "that doesn't sound right."

Every journalist interviewed for this story met some cops at the rally who
were "very nice," "sensitive," and "down to earth." But that doesn't excuse
the cops who think it's necessary to control photographers with aggression.




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