A man has been arrested for alleged assault on a photographer and damage to his camera after protests in central London overnight.
Press photographer Jules Mattsson claims that a bailiff attacked him as he was documenting the eviction of Occupy movement protesters from buildings near to UBS bank in the City during a dawn raid attended by police.
Mattsson, who was not seriously hurt, claims that the incident was captured on video.
‘I am obviously pretty ****** off about all this,’ the photographer wrote on Twitter earlier today.
He claims he was punched and had his lens smashed. ‘I have a right to go about my job without fear of assault,’ wrote Mattsson.
A spokesman for Rossendales, whose staff carried out the eviction, told the Evening Standard that a bailiff who was seen driving a car with a protester on the bonnet had ‘acted in self-defence’.
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman told Amateur Photographer: ‘A 45-year-old man was arrested in connection with an alleged assault and criminal damage.’
The Met spokeswoman added that the criminal damage was ‘to a camera’, but said it was unclear whether the arrested man had any formal role in the eviction process.
