Photographer David Hoffman had his London home visited by British police on the day of the May 6 general elections. They forcibly removed a poster from his window featuring a photo of Conservative Party leader (and now prime minister) David Cameron and the word “wanker”, the British Guardian said on May 11.
Hoffman said police threatened him with arrest and handcuffed him during the visit, claiming the poster was “offensive campaign material”. Hoffman said police “went completely over the top”, the Guardian reported.
Police arrived at Hoffman’s home after a neighbour complained about the poster.
The Guardian reported: “Hoffman said four officers knocked on his door on polling day. When asked by them for identification, he said he tried to momentarily close the door. The officers then forced the door open, he said.
“‘They burst into my house, pushed me back and handcuffed me. They said I had committed an offence under section 5 of the Public Order Act, I was being detained, and I might be arrested.’”
The Guardian noted: “Coincidentally, Hoffman has become one of Britain's most respected photojournalists after three decades chronicling alleged police brutality.”
Hoffman said he intends to lodge a formal complaint over the police actions. He has since replaced the poster, produced by anarchist group Class War, but with the word “wanker” replaced with “onanist” (a term of biblical origins that refers to a character whose “seed was spilled on the ground”).