Allegations of Abuse by NZ Police
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	Stuff March 8 2007; 20:40 Protest ends with police dummy set alight by Kim Ruscoe - Fairfax Media and NZPA A protest march in Wellington tonight ended with an effigy of a police officer being set alight outside the front doors of the High Court. A few hundred woman and men marched on National Women's Day to protest the acquittals of police officers Bob Schollum, Brad Shipton and Clint Rickards of historic sex charges last week, and last year in the Louise Nicholas trial. In Auckland, traffic came to a standstill as a police escort led more than 250 people in an anti-rape march down Queen St. Many of them carried banners calling for suspended Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards to be sacked.. Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were acquitted last week of charges of kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl more than 20 years ago. The trio were also acquitted last year of historic sex charges against Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas. Tonight's International Women's Day march kicked off with a rally at Aotea Square. Auckland Women's Centre spokeswoman Leonie Morris called for a full investigation into the justice system. "Why do so few rape victims use the justice system" she asked. "The laws must change if we are to change sexual violence." Ms Nicholas sent a message of thanks to those on the march. "If we all stick together we will get the changes we want," she said. But she stressed that the march was not a protest against police, many of whom were just as frustrated as she with a system that allowed sex offenders to walk free. She also reminded the group that is was the police who asked the complainant in last week's rape trial to come forward and testify against the three men. Former MP and women's advocate Laila Harre that while those accused of serious crimes had a right to justice and to be heard, the victims in the rape cases had not withdrawn their accusations. "And those accusations still stand," she said. "This was an abuse of power and it has to stop," she said. But the women's messages were backgrounded by calls from men's lobby group Union of Fathers, who drove back and forwards past the rally heckling over the loud speaker and calling for 10-year jail sentences for those who made false claims of rape. As the crowd marched down Queen St, police formed an escort, holding back traffic, including public buses, to allow the marchers to carry their message the length of the city. Earlier plans to march on Auckland Central Police Station were canned because some women felt they would not be safe, organisers said. -- With NZPA