Re: Kuwait reported to have banned use of DSLRs in public

Some years ago (I don't remember exactly when) I was in Las Vegas to visit the annual PMA show. It was the year when the Monte Carlo Hotel was not in use due to a fire that happened some days before.

I was just walking the pavement in front of that hotel, my DSLR (Nikon D700 with battery grip & 24-70 attached, read: a big fat black camera) hang loose on my shoulder, I was not taking a photograph.

Suddenly a guy in civilian clothes approached rapidly, yelling at me that I should walk away immediately with my camera or he will "hook me up". I was so surprised that I didn't know what to say and how to behave, so I just stopped walking and stared at him. He came closer, so close, that his nose nearly touched mine, and yelled again that I should "pi.. the fu.. off with my camera" (sorry, that's what he said).

I stayed calm and dared to ask what the problem is (I was not even aware that I was in front of the closed hotel). This was a mistake. He grabbed my arm to hold me, pulled out a microphone, yelled something I did not understand, and one minute later I was surrounded by uniformed police officers.

They forced me to show them my camera, and checked if I took pictures of the hotel. Since there was no "evidence" of that "crime", I was told to walk away immediately and I was not "hooked up". When I walked away completely baffled, the guy in the civilian clothes shouted that the police will have an eye on me and that I should not dare to come close to that hotel again with my camera.

So, not only in Kuwait...