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The photographers of Britain are up in arms. Last Saturday they staged a protest in London's Trafalgar Square to tell the nanny state exactly what they think of the upswing in unwarranted  harrassment of photographers by the nation's bobbies, who of late have taken on a decidedly menacing persona.

Under Section 44 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, senior officers are allowed to designate entire areas of their police force regions as stop-and-search zones, based on their likelihood of being targets for terrorists.

The I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist Campaign feels that they are misusing their powers.

Both professional and amateur photographers are fair game. Last year, award-winning architectural photographer Grant Smith was stopped and searched in London after he refused to give his name while photographing the spire of Sir Christopher Wren's Christ Church. Alex Turner, an amateur photographer from Kent, was arrested after he took pictures of Mick's Plaice, a fish and chip shop in Chatham.

Under his self-portrait submitted to the photographernotaterrorist.org website, amateur photographer Graham Mantle writes: "In 1961, Eisenhower warned of the 'unwarranted influence' of the 'military industrial complex'. He and Roosevelt believed fear was dangerous. Thomas Jefferson said, 'The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. We are deprived of that vigilance if we cannot show a record.' Roosevelt also remarked: 'When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on'. With many ropes and many knots, we might help each other to hang on. Good luck to all."

PICTURE:
Poesy, I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist, Trafalgar Square, London, UK, 23 January, 2010, Cory Doctorow aka gruntzooki on flickr.com, reproduced according to a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)