Police stop photographer

Picture credit: Mark White

A photographer was yesterday stopped in Trafalgar Square in a move that appears to suggest the war on photography and tripods in public is far from over.

Quick-thinking AP reader Mark White witnessed the drama and captured it on memory card while using his newly purchased Sony NEX-5 camera.

By coincidence the police stop came just minutes before popular weekly magazine Amateur Photographer (AP) published an article about the upcoming launch of its new lens cloth outlining the rules on photography in public places.

The latest in a long line of police confrontations with photographers occurred yesterday morning at around 8.30, according to Mark who told us last night: ?The officer began to fill in a form for a good five minutes and eventually led him [the photographer] away.?

It is unclear what happened next.

At the time of writing, the Metropolitan Police had yet to confirm details of the incident to AP’s newsdesk after being contacted as a matter of some urgency yesterday evening.

However, from the yellow form pictured in the photos, it appears likely that the man – who was using a Canon DSLR and a Manfrotto tripod – was stopped under anti-terrorism legislation.

AP’s microfibre lens cloth will be given away free with the magazine’s 10 July issue.

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