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Allegations
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Auckland: A peace group
has declared war on police, claiming heavy-handed and provocative actions
during a protest in Auckland at the weekend. About 100 protesters -
part of a Global Peace and Justice Auckland organised march - demonstrated
outside the ANZ bank in the central city protesting over military action in
Iraq and the bank’s involvement in a consortium managing the Trade Bank of
Iraq. Four people were
arrested as police broke up the Saturday demonstration. Three were charged
with obstruction and a fourth with assaulting a police officer. But a peace group
committee member, John Minto, yesterday attacked the police actions, calling
their behaviour “provocative, heavy handed and violent”. He has written to
Police Commissioner Rob Robinson protesting at specific actions, including. —
·
The provocative action of police in escorting a vehicle through
the middle of the demonstration. ·
The “violent manhandling” of protesters, and the “violent
arrest” of four peace group supporters. ·
The “provocative” use of plainclothed police and police
photographers. ·
The taking of “dozens” of photographs of protesters at a
simultaneous protest in Wellington. Mr Minto said in his
letter that police held a “long-standing, deepseated, simmering resentment”
of protest groups. Similar police actions in
Auckland and Wellington showed “a coordinated attempt by the police to assert
their authority over the right to peaceful protest”. A spokeswoman for Mr
Robinson said no comment would be made until his office had studied the
letter. One protester, Simon
Oosterman, claimed to have been assaulted by a police officer while being
held in a patrol car. Mr Oosterman said he
had been arrested on a charge of obstructing a footpath, and was put in a
stranglehold while waiting to be taken away. “He held my jugular
with his fingers so tight it sounded like I had helium in my throat.” Mr Oosterman said he
had been “passively resisting” his arrest when he was assaulted in the patrol
car. A police officer slammed the driver’s seat back into his knees, and
claimed the protesters “were just like the Springbok tour people”. “He was just mocking
me. It was completely inappropriate.” Mr Oosterman — who
caused a scene at the Auckland District Court a few weeks ago when he turned
up naked for a court appearance — was due to appear in the court today in
relation to Saturday’s protest. He was also scheduled
for a status hearing today, the latest appearance on a charge of indecent
exposure stemming from a naked bike ride against oil dependency. The Herald on Sunday
yesterday published a photograph of a police sergeant holding a 16-year-old
youth in what appeared to be a stranglehold. Mr Oosterman claims it
was the same officer who assaulted him. Auckland police
spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty last night described the incident as “an absolute
nothing”, and the police officer in the photograph was still on duty. People rallied for the
same cause in Christchurch and Dunedin, but there were no reports of
violence. In Christchurch, 40
protesters lay on the ground, simulating death, in Cathedral Square before
marching to City Mall to do the same. Peace Action Network
spokesman David Colyer said he saw no sign of police presence at the
Christchurch event but was concerned at reports of alleged violence in the
North Island. In Dunedin, about 60
protesters went to the office of Dunedin North MP Pete Hodgson and called for
an end to the occupation of Iraq. Mr Hodgson said
President George W Bush had created the present situation and was responsible
for the remedy. “You ask Bush to get
out of Iraq, but when you break it you own it and Bush has broken Iraq and
has an obligation to fix it,” he told protesters. The protest had started
outside Otago Museum with International Socialist Organisation spokesman Ben
Coggins telling the gathered crowd the Iraq war and ongoing occupation was
illegal. “We’re here today to
recognise what has happened and continues to happen in Iraq, and we’re here
to say that we’re not going to stand back and let it happen.” |
