10/09/2004
NEWS STORY
The actions of police officers at the recent Belgian GP, first highlighted by pitpass, have caused the FIA to give serious consideration to the future of the event.
As the cars headed off on the parade lap, police officers used force to remove accredited photographers from an official enclosure. Protests from the photographers that they had all the relevant passes in order to be in the enclosure, were met with force, including a pistol being drawn from its holster, and threats of arrest.
Once the photographers had been forcibly removed, the police officers stood in the enclosure taking pictures of the race action with their mobile phones. Members of the public were allowed to climb on to a special photographic gantry, as the police continued to watch the race.
"I've heard about it," FIA president Max Mosley said today, "I've had a report and I've instituted an enquiry.
"Depending on the responses we get, we may or may not invite the organisers to appear in front of the world council at some stage in the next few months," he added.
This is not the first time that the policing of the Belgian event has attracted negative publicity, in the past photographers have been attacked by un-muzzled police dogs. It is the law in Belgium that all large dogs - including police dogs - be muzzled.