Filming an arrest at a protest: distance, identification, minors

What is useful to capture, where to stand, and what to do with the footage.

An arrest at a demonstration is the moment people most want to film and the moment where filming most often goes wrong: too close, too late, or posted before anyone has taken advice. This page covers the practical side and the limits. At the school and student protests of autumn 2026, many of those detained were minors, which changes what you should do with the footage.

Where to stand and what to capture

• Stay back. A distance of several metres, ideally with a clear line of sight from the edge of the crowd. Never physically interpose, and never touch anyone.
• Film wide first. A wide shot with a visible landmark shows how many people and officers were present and where they stood. Then move to a medium shot.
• Film how it began. The thirty seconds before an arrest are often what is most disputed.
• Capture identification. Where an officer's number or name is visible, include it. In France, officers on duty have worn an individual identification number (the RIO) since 2014. Rules differ elsewhere: in Germany many but not all states require identification for riot units, and we have not verified Italy, Spain or Greece.
• Say the time and place once, briefly, unless you prefer silence because your voice could identify you.
• Do not direct comments at officers. Insulting an officer while filming remains punishable in France, with or without a camera.

If the person arrested is a minor

In France, 87% of those detained during the school protests were minors, according to the Justice Ministry cited by Time. In Turin on 16 October, the three people arrested were minors, according to the police headquarters reported by ANSA. Filming to document is one thing and publishing is another. Do not post identifiable images of a minor. Keep the original untouched and give it to a lawyer or a legal-support organisation if the family or the young person asks for it. If you publish anything at all, blur the faces of minors and bystanders on a copy.

What not to do with the footage

• Do not edit the original. Work on a copy.
• Do not post straight away. In France, recording and then spreading images of violence is an offence in itself, with an exception for footage made to serve as evidence. The safe route is a lawyer, not a feed.
• Do not hand it to anyone without thinking about who else it shows. It can identify protesters as well as officers.

Afterwards

Write down at once what you saw: time, place, what was said, who else was there. Offer the footage to the person's lawyer. Keep the whole Witness session folder, including the manifest and time-stamp proof, which anyone can verify with OpenSSL without the app.

If you are in Germany

Witness always records sound and has no setting to turn the microphone off, and German law makes recording the non-publicly spoken word an offence (section 201 StGB). See our German legal page.

Questions

Set up Witness before the next day of action

The app is free on iPhone and Android. Set it up and test it before you need it.

More in this series

• Filming the police at student protests across Europe
• Protest phone checklist: 10 steps before you film the police
• Police told you to delete your video or hand over your phone at a protest
• If your teenager is going to a protest: how to prepare their phone
• How to film a dispersal order at a protest: what to capture
• Student and campus journalists: filming protests safely and lawfully
• After the protest: who to give footage of police conduct to

Written on 26 October 2026. The situation and the law change. This is not legal advice.