Backed by ACLU, photographer sues for right to shoot Pershing Square summer concert series
A civil liberties group has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a photographer alleging the city of Los Angeles is enforcing an unconstitutional ban on professional camera equipment at its Pershing Square summer concert series.
Cliff Cheng arrived at Pershing Square on Saturday to photograph a concert by the B-52s as well as a petition-drive by an anti-oil industry group, according to the suit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
He was wearing multiple press identification cards and carried a Canon digital single-lens reflex camera.
Security guards prevented Cheng from entering the park, citing the ban on cameras, the suit said.
Professional photographers typically use DSLR cameras with interchangeable lenses such as the one Cheng had.
The ban originally included “video, photo and audio devices,” such as iPads and professional photography equipment, but did not extend to cellphone cameras.
After Cheng, who works for publications at Los Angeles City College, complained and the ACLU wrote a letter, the ban was redefined.
According to the website for the Saturday night concert series, which includes bands such as the Wallflowers and Toad the Wet Sprocket, flash photography and professional camera equipment, including camera stands and cameras with detachable lenses, are prohibited.
The website also states that promotional fliers cannot be distributed at the concerts without written permission.
Rose Watson, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, said the performers requested that there be no flash photography. The concerts are so crowded that photographers, even professionals, need to make do with smaller cameras, she said.
“Space is so tight, bumper to bumper, wall to wall,” she said.
The ban on photography equipment has been in place for nine years, since the concert series’ inception, she added.
The National Press Photographers Assn. is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, which alleges that Cheng’s 1st Amendment rights were violated. The plaintiffs, represented by civil rights attorney Carol Sobel and attorneys from the ACLU, are seeking a court injunction to end the bans on photography equipment and distributing fliers.
Mickey Osterreicher, the association’s general counsel, wrote in a legal declaration that professional photographers typically do not carry much equipment and are used to moving unobtrusively in large crowds.
“If there are legitimate fears that the crowd is so large that it is dangerous, the appropriate response is to limit the overall crowd size, not ban photographers,” Osterreicher wrote.
The last concert in the series, featuring the bands X and Meat Puppets, takes place Saturday.
For more news on the Los Angeles Police Department, follow me on Twitter: @cindychangLA
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