New Zealanders march to protest police anti-terrorism raids

Nov 13, 2007, 6:19 GMT

Wellington - A protest against police anti-terrorism raids was held Tuesday in a town on New Zealand's North Island ahead of a march by about 80 demonstrators to Parliament in Wellington, news reports said.

About 150 people joined the marchers in the town centre of Palmerston North, the regional newspaper the Manawatu Standard said.

The protest was held after armed police last month arrested 17 people and seized firearms and Molotov cocktails in the raids, which police claimed to be aimed at paramilitary camps training Maori radicals. Among those arrested were the Maori activist Tame Iti and several environmental campaigners.

The raids have brought a storm of criticism against the police, who have been accused of racism and overreacting.

The protestors Tuesday waved placards and flags that affirmed the sovereignty of the indigenous Maoris over the crown. They performed the haka, or Maori war dance, and sang the waiata, the Maori song of friendship.

Protest spokesman Taiarahia Black from the Maori-dominated region of Tuhoe targeted by police in the raids told the Manawatu Standard that Maori marchers and dissidents were not terrorists.

The protest march was due to arrive at Parliament Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Parliament on Tuesday passed amendments to the Terrorism Suppression Act that are meant to strengthen that law.

Parliament voted 108-13 in favour of the changes, which creates the new offense of committing an act of terrorism, punishable by life in prison, and gives the prime minister the power to designate groups or people as terrorists.

Both of New Zealand's major political parties said the bill had no relevance to October's police raids. It simply allowed New Zealand to meet its international obligations in terms of the designation of terrorist entities, both parties' spokesmen told Parliament.