Photographers who say they are fed up with being ‘harassed’ by private security guards and street wardens took part in a ?flash mob? in Manchester city centre on Sunday.

The event was organised by Salford-based photographer Joel Goodman who told the Manchester Evening News: ?Many of us are getting stopped on a regular basis? We are constantly being obstructed or prevented from taking pictures when it is perfectly legitimate in a public place.

?They have no right or principled argument to prevent it but I read stories on a daily basis about it happening and a great many people I know have been affected by it.?

Billed as a ?low-key show of defiance?, the gathering – outside the Arndale Centre – passed peacefully.

Organisers added: ?Such incidents? sometimes result in actions that are intimidating towards and obstructive of photographers, or in demands that images are deleted ? behaviour which, in the name of preventing illegal behaviour, is itself illegal.?

The flash mob had been publicised through the image sharing website, Flickr.