A little while back I decided to include a few posts/stories about some of the negative experiences that have come about from shooting street photography during my 100 cities project. I want this blog to be open, honest, and hopefully interesting, so that should include the times that don’t go perfectly too. In the first post, I wrote about a physical confrontation over street photography that I had in Istanbul. While they’re very rare, confrontations can occur in street photography, but for this post I wanted to cover something that happened to me that I never would have expected.
During my visit to Chefchaouen, Morocco, I was actually arrested for street photography. But it wasn’t as simple as that. The story behind why and how is the most surprising part, and now that I’m free, it’s also the most entertaining part, for me…
Arrested for Street Photography in Morocco
Yes, you read that right. I was arrested for shooting street photography in Morocco. In the small, blue city of Chefchaouen to be specific. Up high in the Rif Mountains of Morocco.
Nothing prompted this arrest, other than being seen photographing in public. No altercation or complaint happened, either. And no, it is not illegal to shoot street photography in Morocco.
Since street photography is perfectly legal here, then how did I get taken into a police station by five officers for simply using my camera in public?
For some fun on this story, I’ll break it down by time and event, similar to a tv crime drama :)
A Sunny Monday Afternoon Somewhere in the Streets of Chefchaouen, Morocco…
12:32 I’m walking around Chefchaouen’s streets shooting some street photography.
12:33 A Moroccan man around 25-30 years old, dressed normal, walks up to me and asks what I’m doing.
I explain to him that I’m out photographing life in Morocco. I show him my business card and explain further what I do.
12:35 The man asks me my nationality and where I live.
(While this sounds a little strange to ask, in Morocco it’s not too strange as people come up and ask questions like this.)
I tell him I’m from the U.S., but currently live in Istanbul.
We talk a little more, all friendly. He explains to me that I’m a nice guy, but I need to understand for every one good tourist, there are three bad tourists, so this is why he was curious about me photographing. (Also a little strange to say, but he shakes my hand and walks away.)
12:42 I continue walking the streets and photographing.
12:47 While in a completely different area than before, I notice the same man across the street on his phone. I continue walking around.
12: 52 Again, in a completely different area, I notice the same man close by on his phone. Now, I’m pretty sure he’s following me so I walk a little faster while taking a more complicated route to try to lose him.
12:58 It seems I have lost him, but then out of nowhere three men run up from behind and grab me, while yelling that they are police and I’m coming with them.
All three men are dressed normal so I ask to see a badge or I’m not going anywhere. This causes one man to start aggressively yelling at me in Arabic, which prompts another man to get in front of him and show me his police ID.
Then two more men come up, including the original man. I ask what the reason for stopping me is. They won’t really answer, but one guy mentions that I can’t take photos in public and I better not erase anything on my camera. I’m still very suspicious of how they’re acting and how they are dressed, but they tell me they are dressed normal because they are undercover police.
They don’t have handcuffs, but they tell me I’m being arrested and taken to the police station in their car. I ask if we can walk since I know the station is only two blocks away, instead of getting into their old car with nothing showing it’s for police (still suspicious). The same aggressive man says no and grabs me, but another man says yes and motions for him to let me go. So we walk to the station.
13:10 Walking into the police station with them, I feel a little better knowing they really are police. They take me into a very small room and have me sit down with five guys surrounding me.
The aggressive officer, we’ll call him “bad cop,” seems to be the one in charge and continues being verbally aggressive with me, while another officer acts completely the opposite towards me. The total “good cop, bad cop” routine.
They continue asking questions about my profession and what I’m doing there, while making comments about how I need to have authorization and papers to be able to take photos with people in public in Morocco (not true). At the same time, two other guys are going through all the photos on my camera, one by one, while stopping to asking me questions about specific photos from time to time.
This interrogation goes on for around 30 minutes. They speak Arabic and French, but not the best english so communication isn’t great. At one point, one of them asks me if I speak any Arabic. When I say no, he replies “that’s not good” with a strange smile and shake of his head, which didn’t give me the best feeling.
(During this whole interrogation, I’m thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen here. I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but this was all so strange and I was up in the mountains of a foreign country so you never know.)
13:40 The “bad cop” calls my hotel on the phone and speaks with them for at least 5 minutes. Towards the end, I hear him say “American?!” and he starts laughing, then turns to the rest of the police in the room and repeats “American!” They all start laughing too. Normally, this would sound like a bad thing, but something about it made me sense it was good.
13:43 After the phone call, he hands another man a number written on a piece of paper. It looked to be my passport number that he must have gotten from my hotel. So the man leaves the room to go check it in their system, I’m assuming. The rest of the police in the room start speaking to each other in arabic without questioning me anymore.
13:51 The man returns with the piece of paper and talks to the “bad cop.”
13:53 The “bad cop” turns to me with a complete change in attitude and says, “So so sorry. You can go.”
Everyone’s now looking at me with apologetic faces.
The “bad cop” continues, “We thought you were Turkish. But we find from hotel that you are American. Our brothers! (Everyone laughs)… So we know you are good. Turkish are bad, very suspicious, so we thought you were bad. So so sorry, our mistake. Making photos of people is very suspicious if you are from Turkey, but you are American!” (Again, laughter from the police fills the room)
The original guy that confronted me first comes in the room and tells me how sorry he is too and that it was all his mistake. Obviously, me telling him I currently live in Istanbul was the reason for all this, and that must be what they were focused on the whole time.
The bad turned good cop stands up to shake my hand and tells me “Please leave and enjoy here, you are our guest” and everyone follows to shake my hand and wish me well.
I walk out of the station and go back to street photography, while processing all that just happened.
Strangest Street Photography Experience Yet
This is, without a doubt, the strangest experience I’ve had yet while shooting street photography. Even now, all that happened and the reasons why are funny to think about. The whole “good cop, bad cop” routine in the dirty, old interrogation room was straight out of a movie. Happening in a secluded little town in the middle of the mountains in Morocco definitely added to the experience too. And I’m not sure what would have happened to me if I actually was Turkish instead of American.
Unlike the last post in this series, I don’t think there’s much to learn from it, but hopefully it’s interesting enough to share. It was definitely interesting for me to experience. And sorry I don’t have any photos from the actual event, but I didn’t think it was the best idea at the time :)
What an interesting experience you had! I wonder too what would have happened if you were Turkish.
I know it’s not the point here, but it’s always interesting to see how people react to someone from the US as a tourist in another country. People usually have strong opinions about someone from America, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. When I’m asked where I’m from and I say I’m from Hungary, Europe (and not the US which is usually people’s first guess) I usually get an “Oh I see” reaction as not many people know my country.
Thanks Mate! Morocco is one of the United States’ oldest and closest allies in Africa so that probably helps opinions of Americans over there. But you’re right, the abroad opinions of Americans can vary quite a bit. That’s funny about people not knowing Hungary, but I wouldn’t mind it. I love Budapest just the way it is, I don’t want too many people finding out how great it is :)
Didn’t know about the two countries being close allies, that explains the policemen’s reaction. :) I don’t mind people don’t usually know about Hungary as it lets me do a good first impression without having to fight people’s prejudice. And as a bonus I can always teach some nice Hungarian words and speak in a language no one understands.
Interesting story and well written, like a good drama ;-) which turn OK for you, but I guess you were pretty worried during this hour.
Thanks, Esther! I tried to have some fun with it. Honestly, it was so surreal at the time that I wasn’t as worried as I should have been, probably.
such a funny story. I think the whole problem arose out of you saying to the cop “Istanbul”, which would evoke terrorism-related issues. Morocco is watching closely anybody going to and coming from Turkey, for it is now a crossing point for those who want to join ISIS militias in Syria and Iraq. So basically somebody currently living in Turkey and shooting photos in Chefchaouen might be a subject for a quick security inquiry, although I think that should have happened at the airport in the first place. Besides, in Morocco there is currently no law which regulates shooting in the streets. And as a Moroccan I was stopped many times by cops for shooting in the streets; the last time was last summer when a cap accused me of “using a digital devise without authorization”. So, we can say that it’s true that some photographers have to go through the ministry of communication if they are doing photography for a commercial purpose or through the Moroccan Cinematographic Center if somebody wants to shoot a film.. This way Morocco can also make some good money from tourists, but overall people don’t have to do any of these as long as they are not constitute any kind of threat to the image of the country (like photo-journalists do) :D
Thanks for the comment and you’re right, mentioning Istanbul at the beginning was the main reason for what happened. From what I know, the public photography laws are like you say, but there seems to be some disagreement in the comments so I’ll have to check that out. Cheers!
Morocco is a country where humans right are very confused Sometimes people are free but sometimes we see opression very represent.
When you are Moroccan it can be quiet Harder to take photos or to shoot videos.
I guess you were wrong when you think that taking picture is it legal in Morocco it’s not completely you should have a special authorization And policeman can ask you for other papers that you maybe can’t have it’s a way for them to control.
Thanks for the comment, Salma! I’ll have to research the specific laws again because I’m under the impression that authorization is only needed for photojournalism and commercial purposes, not normal street photography?
As an amateur street photographer in Morocco, I faced many issues while shooting in street, specially if you are noticed, it is a complicated issue in such places like Morocco, it is culture issue, we are getting opened, but internally we are still having minds of Saudi Arabia.
Hello there,
I am Abdellatif, from Morocco, and i read your article. I am a cinematographer and in my spare time a photographer. What happened for you is quiet a routine in Morocco, and i would like to correct some informations for you. You said there is no need to have an autorisation to do street photography in Morocco, but technically, that’s not true. You need to fill a form in the web of the ministry of communication at least 15 days before you want to do so. But, in the facts, few people does it as long as it’s just you and your camera and not a whole set up as it would be for a “pro shooting” such as ad or model shooting. The reason they came to you, it’s because in Morocco, there is some sensitives areas which are not meant to be shot, such as the Royal castle or domain. The other, is cultural, specially in cities like Chefhachouen, which are a small and traditional town. If you are shooting your friends or monuments, no one would bother you, but if you start shooting people or police officer, even in they happen to be on the backgrounds ( I saw a photo with one) it’s forbidden by the law, and that’s the reason they came asking you questions. The bright side of the story and that you may probably didn’t know, it’s that once your cleared your situation, the undercover police officers ( and there are quiet a lot of them in Morocco), will look after you, and even help you in case of need. I had similar experience myself while shooting Chefchaouen and on other small cities around the country.
Anyway, i hope that this experience won’t stop to come back and shout in Morocco, there is a lot much more to discover.
Best regards,
I was going to echo exactly what was said here. If you’re photographing for yourself as a tourist it’s not an issue but if you’re professional and doing it for commercial reasons (or what might be seen as commercial reasons) then yes you do need authorization. The bigger your camera and set up the more scrutiny there is. Also smaller cities you’ll face a lot more scrutiny.
Thanks for the info, appreciate it!
Thanks for the comment, Abdellatif! Actually, in this instance they didn’t come to me for photographing anything off limits. He just came to me because he was curious about what I was doing. But yes, I’m aware of government buildings and police being off limits or they’ll have you erase, I actually wrote about it in my posts on Marrakech. As for the laws, thanks for the info, I’ll look into the exact wording because I’ve been told differing info on non-commercial/journalistic use. Best regards to you too.
Sorry to hear that buddy! But I find this quit normal, Morocco is now very alert as we had many terrorist attack attempts recently and seeing a Turkish guy taking pictures near sensitive areas might seem very suspicious, knowing that Turkey is the gateway of ISIS to the world as you know. I think they thought something like you’re a Turkish spy for ISIS or something. If Morocco is safe now it’s due to the fact that our policemen are extremely alert, we aborted more than 40 terrorist attacks since 2013. Nothing personal buddy, just national security ;)
I had a similar situation when I was filming close to the U.S Embassy in Casablanca lol, it was right after the terrorist attacks in 2003 in Casablanca, police came in 3 cars and took me to the police station for 3 hours Q/A lmao…it was like a movie. Anyway safe travel and enjoy Morocco ;)
PS: wherever you travel it’s always good to keep a copy of your passport with you to avoid situations like that.
Yours sounds worse than my story, haha. Thanks for the comment, Adil, and I definitely enjoyed Morocco! I’ll be back.
What an experience and as a Moroccan I think that what happened to you could happen to every other person (Moroccan or not).
Also, I don’t think that those policemen have a problem with Turkish dudes. But, since the Turkish governmenet lets ISIS bastards freely locally & internationally move, every person from there becomes suspicious in Morocco.
And as you know, Morocco has never had been attacked by ISIS. Moroccan intelligence is known at an international scale for its effciency, you can Google that.
Anyway it was all for people’s security, I hope you forgive that fact and as the policemen said : you are our brother and welcome anytime in Morocco !
Thanks for the comment and welcoming me, appreciate it! No forgiving need, I had a great time in Morocco and this was just part of the experience :) Great country.
Quite a story! ;-)
For a long time now I’ve searched for a reliable source on the internet listing the legal situation for street photography in other countries.
I find it very hard to find out for sure what the laws really are, and it would be good to know before I go somewhere because if it’s really illegal I might not even consider going there.
Does anybody know of such a list?
It is hard to find reliable sources with a good understanding of the laws in each country. Many of the laws tend to be ambiguous and easily interpreted differently. Here’s a very simplistic version: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Country_specific_consent_requirements . I used to have a more detailed version, but it doesn’t seem to be posted online anymore. Cheers, Kitty!
Thank you! according to the list, my next trip will be ok but maybe I need to search specifically for each country I want to visit before I go there.
I am stopping in Morocco (and will also be visiting Chefchaouen) for a few days prior to heading to Istanbul for some classes. I can’t remember the last time I was so relieved to read something before going on a trip. Because of your post, I’ll be sure not to confuse people with my destination!
Too bad I never saw this post before. I was also arrested for street photography in Casablanca but they were nice about it. Took my info and then let me go. I get why they don’t want people taking pictures. They aren’t on good terms with Algeria, the Polisaro and all the Western Sahara plus the Takfeeri ideology still widespread. Still gonna try and get an authrization though.
I think part of the reason why they let you go was because of your skin color. Imagine if you were dark skinned and you were taking pictures.
It had nothing to do with race. They made it clear it was because they thought I might be from Turkey and had suspicions from that. Being from the USA was a positive, as well, but my time spent living/working in Turkey has caused me a number of problems/questions in different countries, especially at borders.
Okay I didn’t know. I only said this because I heard that North Africans are usually racist towards dark skinned people.