Sep
11
I am shocked and saddened to find out that my friend Teacher Dude was beaten up by the police for taking pictures. He is an outstanding photographer and I always look forward to his latest postings. He (and he’s not the only one) did not know that it is illegal to take pictures of the police here in Greece. A simple request would have been sufficient to inform him, rather than this…
i have a dislocated left shoulder, painfully put back into place by three hefty guys, a fractured nose, and muliple bruising. all because some manic idiot couldn’t control himself.
Please go to his blog and wish him well especially if you can help him with pressing charges.
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following his post i googled around greek websites and forums and found conflicting information as to whether it is, in fact, illegal to photograph the police. i’m not at all sure that it really is.
for intance, on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/3e5dfc
entitled ‘a forum for police and citizens’, in bold, it says that:
‘i later asked a lawyer and learned that it’s not illegal to photograph events in a public area, even if there are police, firemen or anything else. it’s illegal to take pictures of facilities such as a police station or an army camp, etc. but it’s not illegal to photograph an even in a public area.’
in fact, i don’t understand how such a law could possibily exist in a free country.
i certainly hope he can find legal help — but even if he doesn’t i’m still curious as to the law.
Last I checked, Greece wasn’t really a “free” country, but anyway.
My brother wanted some unposed shots of police officers, so he started snapping away here in Athens. When the officers saw what he was doing, they all sucked in their bellies, posed and smiled. There was no beating of any kind.
I knew it was illegal to photograph military but didn’t know about police. I guess I’ll just be careful out there…ciao
no country is completely free — it’s a matter of degree. compared to some places i’ve seen, it’s free all right.
anyway, i’m glad he’s found legal counsel.
TMT – True, but I suppose you can say that since you’re Greek and would be treated differently…that is, if you lived here.
i think i can say that because i’ve lived in 4 different countries and am able to interpret what i see beyond exclusively personal experience.
I’m sorry to hear about Teacher Dude. I hope he recovers soon. Maybe a more cautious approach would be to ask the police if you could take their pictures.
It is NOT illegal AT ALL
I do not know details but if he has even the smallest piece of evidence about those police officers Greek Helsinki Monitor is ready to help Teacher Dude. We have alerady has one polcie officer who merely said to a photographer not to take picture reprimkanded in 2003.
DD can inform us provately about this.
what was this commie doing taking pictures anyway?
He probably enjoyed the beating.
I think the shock is a bit much. These laws exist all over including many US states. I took a really much worse police beating in Jerusalem photographiing a police response to a peaceful protest three years ago.
In nordic countries the security police wear balaclava masks. They certainly do in Germany where I lived for years.
Take a look at this, which is repeated at protests all over the US:
http://www.villagevoice.com/ne.....142,6.html
http://www.nbc10.com/news/9574663/detail.html
So I offer my sympathies, but commentors should not come down on Greece for something that happens often enough in the US and “Western” Europe.