The burgeoning fascist state in New Zealand

The police state in New Zealand

The image above is from a police raid of the sort of the notorious Urewera raids of 2007.

However, I have my own story to relate. 

 I have to be purposefully vague as to location and idendities but I can assure you that this is going on – in New Zealand.

The 13 year old son of someone I know has practically been accused of terrorism based on unproved hearsay. This goes on his record and our friend is trying to have it removed.

The story, very briefly is that in a discussion with a school counselor our subject said that someone in the school was planning to build a pipe bomb and ‘take some of the teachers out’

Instead of trying to sort it out, or make further inquiries, the counsellor decided to blow the whistle.

The next thing was the police were banging on the door of our friend in the middle of the night and the school decides to expel – all this based on the hearsay of another teenager who was probably scared shitless of the police.

All the charges – and they went, it transpired into their own record, were based on hearsay. Our friend’s boy was never able to to tell his own story or to challenge that of others who had inmplicated.

And yet this is on his record which goes to the next school and will follow him around wherever he goes.

This is a 13-year-old boy and unless there is strong action taken this has the potential to ruin his life.

In Stalinist Russia (the worst regime I can think of outside of Hitler’s Germany) children were encouraged to inform on their teachers and parents. In our own “democratic” fascist state teachers are mandated to spy on and inform on CHILDREN. 

 I know this to be the case in Britain

Police Corruption

Facebook comments by Russel Malcolm

40 years on, right in our faces NZ Police corruption of the worst kind, its a never ending growing list of murders rapes, beatings, setup, cover-ups, drug dealing, False arrests, Political raids.

Incompetence to deeply entrenched organised crime, and those in power need those of you who say its only a few bad ones to keep spouting that shit. Those who say that are the traitors to our society. Its keeps the illusion going.

Arthur was eventually cleared by independent investigation due to the actions of good people unselfishly fighting for justice, we dont even have that element in our society any more. If we do its rare and police attack them with vengeance, again without any accountability.

Do a simple exercise start with ten cops, one commits a crime harming another person. two cops coverup for him, the rest know its going on and do nothing. ...........Which ones are of a high enough integrity to be Police?

The courts cover form them, Judges are compromised, Media print what the system wants us to think we know.

This is not a rare event, its everyday practice, covered only the soothing weasel words coming in press release from Police and Police association which is a political pressure group established to look after cops. Trying to con us in emotion words of how they care. If they did care this would not be going on.

Police inquiry a 'cover up' - Arthur Allan Thomas

Arthur Allan Thomas has condemned a soon to be released police inquiry into the Crewe murders as a mockery and a "cover up" following the police's defence of the man who led the original investigation.

At a rare public appearance this morning Mr Thomas, who was twice convicted and then pardoned in the murders of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe in 1970, said police were "protecting their own".

"It's a shame that we have this system of cover up," Mr Thomas told the media and members of the public at Pukekawa Hall.


Police brutality

In New Zealand the police investigate themselves with the 'Independent  Police Complaints Commission

Police pay after tussle with farmer

_{Police have agreed to pay a Southland farmer $14,000 in damages and costs after armed officers entered his property without permission and, in a resulting tussle, pepper-sprayed him, punched him in the face and Tasered him while he was handcuffed.}

_{Court and police documents say three constables, from Invercargill and Bluff, arrived at the Greenhills farm of Corey Vreugdenhil on March 18 last year to investigate a complaint of intimidation laid by his neighbour, Les Cooper.}

_{The two men have a history of confrontation.}

_{The officers entered the property carrying Glock pistols, M4 semi-automatic rifles, pepper spray, Tasers and batons. When they approached Vreugdenhil's house he told them to "f . . . off".}

_{A constable then told Vreugdenhil he was under arrest for "speaking threateningly".}

_{He replied he had done nothing wrong and again told them to "f . . . off".}

_{They remained at the property and entered his house where a tussle took place.}

_{Vreugdenhil was pepper-sprayed and wrestled to the ground. He was subsequently Tasered and punched in the face when, police statements say, he attempted to pull a Glock pistol out of an officer's holster.}

_{Vreugdenhil has this week denied trying to grab the pistol.}

_{A constable's statement describes how he looked down and saw Vreugdenhil holding the grip of another constable's Glock pistol. The officer's face "looked frantic and he was trying to break Vreugdenhil's grip on his pistol", the statement says.}

_{After the tussle, Vreugdenhil was taken to the Invercargill police station, seen by a doctor, held in the cells overnight and released on bail the next day.}

_{Among Vreugdenhil's injuries were wounds from the Taser prongs and wounds to his nose, wrists, shoulder and painful eyes from the pepper spray.}

_{A memorandum before the courts for Vreugdenhil says police later acknowledged that their presence at the property and the subsequent arrest was unlawful.}

_{Police withdrew charges alleging Vreugdenhil had assaulted police and resisted arrest.}

_{Another charge Vreugdenhil faced for threatening to injure his neighbour, Les Cooper, was also dropped.}

_{The memorandum says the three officers had no grounds to remain on Mr Vreugdenhil's property or enter his house.}

_{"Police acknowledge they were clearly told to leave the premises and the defendant clearly revoked their implied licence to remain. Thereafter they were trespassers."}

_{Police this month, in correspondence to Vreugdenhil, agreed to pay him $10,000 in damages, $4000 in costs and write him a letter acknowledging they had breached his rights.}

_{He said yesterday he had not yet received that letter.}

_{Southland area commander Inspector Lane Todd, in correspondence to Vreugdenhil dated February 27, says his complaint about the police handling of the matter was reported to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.}

_{"The investigator has concluded that the attending constables technically have failed to leave your address at the time you directed them to," the letter says.}

_{"After legal advice was sought, the investigator further concluded that this in effect was a civil trespass. The investigator however concluded that the attending officers were acting in good faith and had the honest belief that their actions were justified and within the law."}

_{Todd's letter says he has spoken to the constables involved, "and I have reminded them of the legal requirements in incidents of this nature".}

_{Yesterday, Todd told The Southland Times that police were now finalising the settlement agreement with Vreugdenhil. An independent investigation into the incident had been completed and was with the Independent Police Conduct Authority for review, he said.}

_{"Until all matters have been finalised and reviewed it is not appropriate for police to make any further comments at this time."}

_{Perhaps the most egregious case of police violations is the invasion of the house of investigative journalist, Nicky Hager in response to the embarassement from his revelations of dirty politics and of spying and surveillance of New Zealanders - the result of which that New Zealanders rushed in to return a fascist government to power}

NEW ZEALAND COPS RAIDED HOME OF REPORTER WORKING ON SNOWDEN DOCUMENTS

Agents from New Zealand’s national police force ransacked the home of a prominent independent journalist earlier this month who was collaborating with The Intercept on stories from the NSA archive furnished by Edward Snowden. The stated purpose of the 10-hour police raid was to identify the source for allegations that the reporter, Nicky Hager, recently published in a book that caused a major political firestorm and led to the resignation of a top government minister.

But in seizing all the paper files and electronic devices in Hager’s home, the authorities may have also taken source material concerning other unrelated stories that Hager was pursuing. Recognizing the severity of the threat posed to press freedoms from this raid, the Freedom of the Press Foundation today announced a global campaign to raise funds for Hager’s legal defense

In 2012, at the behest of Hollywood and the Obama administration (VP Joe Biden in particular), entrepeneur Kim Dotcom's mansion was raided and Kim Dotcom and his colleagues were arrested for alleged copyright infringement.

The Kim Dotcom raids

The response of the government has been to retrospectively justifuy and legalise their actions, including the spying by its external intelligence arm, the GCSB, on New Zealanders

Here is the 2014 Moment of Truth with Kim Dotcom, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Julian Assange et.al.

The Urewera raids

Finally here is a documentary on the Urewera raids of 2007

The 2007 Urewera terror raids

Don't expect much interest from most of the NZ media - they'll be obsessed with a murder in London

Compensation over Urewera raids possible - lawyer

A lawyer says dozens of people caught up in the Urerewa police raids in 2007 are entitled to compensation.

Radio NZ,

23 May, 2013

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) on Wednesday released a long-awaited report into the raids carried out in October 2007.

It found that officers unlawfully detained people at five properties, set up illegal road blocks at Ruatoki and Taneatua in the Bay of Plenty and intimidated innocent residents, including children.

The police have apologised and accepted the report, but Police Commissioner Peter Marshall says no officers will be disciplined as they acted professionally and in good faith.

Tuhoe activist Tame Iti was convicted on firearms charges as a result of the raids and intends seeking compensation from the police. His lawyer Russell Fairbrother QC says the commissioner is trying to downplay the offending.

"It's not just a trivial thing that occurred and it ignores the trauma that many innocent people suffered. People were held at gunpoint, they were photographed, they had to do what they were told. You can't just wave that away by saying it's semantics."

Mr Fairbrother says those detained in their homes, arrested or stopped at roadblocks could claim under the law of torts for detention, unlawful arrest, and possibly assault, and could also claim under the Bill of Rights. He says they could be entitled to compensation for trauma, damage to their home or clothing and loss of wages.

A lawyer who complained to the Independent Police Conduct Authority says the Police Commissioner isn't taking the report seriously enough.

Peter Williams QC acted on behalf of people in Tuhoe territory and his complaint to the authority following the raids included 18 accounts from residents.

Mr Williams says armed officers trashed people's houses and intimidated innocent people, including children. "These are ordinary decent people and they've been treated in a shocking manner."

He says police have breached the law and there should be some kind of settlement such as the donation of a library for the children.

Police Commissioner Peter Marshall accepts the IPCA report's criticisms and acknowledges illegality in some parts of the raids. He said on Wednesday police did not go in with any malice, but misinterpreted legislation they were working under.

Mr Marshall apologised to any innocent people caught up in the raids, but defended the use of road blocks, saying police did have concerns about a group of people in the area when they set up them up.

He said that, if asked, he will go to Ruatoki at whatever time suits people to talk with them, and has already spoken to several senior Tuhoe leaders.

Raids still fresh in residents' minds

A Ruatoki resident caught up in the 2007 Urewera raids says compensation or a police apology is unlikely to repair the damage done to the community.

Miria Tuhaka told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme police refused her attempts to help a neighbour's children who were traumatised after the adults in their house were arrested.

She says the children were screaming and confused but officers wouldn't let them go to them for at least half an hour.

"We were saying to them 'all we're worried about are the children, look at them, they're screaming, they don't know what's happening' and the oldest there at the time would have been seven years old."

Ms Tuhaka says the day is still fresh in her mind and an apology from the police won't change that.

Listen to Miria Tuhaka on Morning Report

Ruatoki community to discuss findings

Plans are underway to schedule a hui in the Ruatoki community to discuss the IPCA report. Te Komiti o Runga, which consists of two delegates from each of the nine hapu in the Ruatoki Valley, is planning to meet to discuss the findings.

Tuhoe kuia Te Waiarangi Harawira witnessed the raids and says the report is unlikely to remedy anything as it has taken too long. But she says although it may not change the way the community feels, the findings needs to be shared.

Ruatoki resident Akuera Te Moana says the day of the raids day is still fresh in the minds of all the community.

He says those who were directly affected need to read the report. "The community still needs to know what has happened and what shouldn't have happened in regards to being branded as terrorists as such."

Te Komiti o Runga is still to finalise plans for the hui, but expects it to happen in the next few weeks.

UREWERA LAWYERS CALL POLICE COMMISSIONER ARROGANT AND FLIPPANT

Lawyers acting for Tuhoe caught up in the Urewera raids say the Police Commissioner has been arrogant and flippant about the IPCA investigation into the operation which found the police broke the law.

RUATOKI RESIDENT SAYS SHE'LL NEVER FORGET UREWERA RAID

Miria Tuhaka is one of the residents caught up in the operation, She joins us from Ruatoki.

Here is last night's interview with Police commissioner, Peter Marshall

Police criticised for 2007 Urewera terror raids

Police Complaints Authority criticises illegal searches during Urewera raids

A landmark report has heavily criticised the police for illegally searching and detaining people, and for setting up unlawful roadblocks, during the Urewera raids in October 2007.

Radio New Zealand,

22 May, 2013

The Independent Police Conduct Authority on Wednesday released the findings of its investigation of the case and made a series of recommendations for change.

The authority said it received multiple complaints about 'Operation Eight' which began in late 2005 and ended on 15 October 2007 with the coordinated execution of 41 search warrants throughout the country and the establishment of road blocks at Ruatoki and Taneatua.

The authority has found that, as a whole, the police operation was reasonable and necessary, but it also faults the police for several shortcomings.

Authority chairman Judge Sir David Carruthers says it scrutinised police actions at 11 properties that were searched, after people from three different addresses complained that they and others had been personally searched.

"Police had no justification for personally searching occupants, and these searches were unlawful.

"The detention of the occupants at five properties examined by the authority was also unlawful, unjustified and unreasonable."

Judge Carruthers finds fault with the police for leading people to believe they were being detained, and has also criticised what he calls deficient planning for roadblocks set up in Ruatoki and Taneatua.

He says photographs were taken of 66 drivers, 15 passengers and some children, which left people feeling degraded and intimidated.

"It also added to people's fear and anxiety. Police did not have reasonable grounds to search vehicles at the Ruatoki roadblock. Police actions in this regard were contrary to law."

The authority has made seven recommendations, including ordering the police to repair their relationship with Tuhoe and to change Armed Offenders Squad policy

.

Police acknowledge mistakes

Police Commissioner Peter Marshall says he accepts the report's criticisms and acknowledges officers acted illegally in some parts of the raid.

Mr Marshall says the operation was a large one, with 300 officers deployed to search and raid properties around the country.

While there had been a two-year investigation leading up to the raids, he says, officers were only briefed that morning.

Mr Marshall also says the officers in charge of the road block at Ruatoki misinterpreted the legislation they were working under,but were not acting with any malice.

"There was an abundance of caution being exercised by them and they simply got in wrong in terms of the interpretation of the legislation on the roadblocks, and we accept that."

He apologises to anyone whonot involved in the investigation who was not a suspect and who was inconvenienced, frightened or distressed.

Tuhoe complaint

Tuhoe has complained to the Independent Police Conduct Authority that it was not given an advance copy of the report.

The police had access to the report in advance, as allowed under the law, and Tuhoe leader Tamati Kruger says the central Bay of Plenty iwi would have appreciated a similar opportunity.

The Urewera raids

Tame Iti granted release from prison
Tuhoe elder Tame Iti, jailed following the Urewera raids case, has been granted release from prison by the Parole Board.

Radio New Zealand,

14 February, 2013

Iti has served a third of his two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for firearms charges and will be released on 27 February.

He appeared before the Parole Board on Thursday, where he was granted release with special conditions that have yet to be made public.

In its decision, the board said it was satisfied Iti no longer poses an undue risk to the safety of the community.

Tweeting via family members, Iti said it was a good day and he can't wait to be back with his whanau.

Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey were convicted following a trial in 2012.

The jury could not decide whether the so-called Te Urewera Four were part of a criminal group. Iti and Kemara were both jailed for two-and-a-half years, while Signer and Bailey were sentenced to home detention.

Tame Iti's family said on Thursday he was quietly optimistic about his chances of the Parole Board releasing him.

Wairere Iti attended the hearing and said the Probation Service presented a glowing report which said his father had an extremely positive impact on other prisoners and staff.

He said his father told the board that he wants to be able to make a difference to society when released.

Meanwhile, papers have been filed in the Supreme Court in a bid to have Iti's sentence and convictions quashed. An earlier appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed.

Urewera appeal case lost

Concern was expressed earlier this week by at least one commetator about the blurring of the distinction between the police and the state – one way to define a police state.

The conduct of this case indicates that this process is well along the way

Urewera Four lose appeals

The so-called Urewera Four have lost their appeals against conviction and sentence.

NZ Herald,

29 October, 2012

The so-called Urewera Four have lost their appeals against conviction and sentence.

In a decision released this afternoon, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Tame Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey.

Tuhoe activists Iti and Kemara were jailed for two and a half years in May after being found guilty in the High Court at Auckland of firearms offences relating to the 2007 Urewera raids.

Signer and Bailey were each sentenced to nine months of home detention after they were found guilty of unlawful possession of firearms.

At the appeal Iti's lawyer Russell Fairbrother argued the trial jury should have been directed by the judge to the difference between the worlds in which they lived and in which the Tuhoe activist lived.

Mr Fairbrother said there was nothing inherently unlawful in what happened at the camps.

The jury was not directed on what was lawful or not, nor were they directed on each individual charge, he argued.

Kemara's lawyer Gretel Fairbrother said the jury should have been directed on what was lawful, on each individual charge and also on how each individual charge related to each accused.

The Urewera police raids

This is the first time that any of the people arrested in the 2007 Urewera police raids have been able to put their side of the story.

What emerges is that these are two young people concerned with the environment and social and racial justice.

Their protests would have been accepted in the recent past, but with the post-2001 move to fascism these normal acts of dissidence and protest are now deemed by the corporate state to be terrorism; the aim of the raids was to put fear into the protest movement and to discourage dissent.

NZ terror raids: Interview with Urs Signer and Emily Bailey

Urs Signer and Emily Bailey are two of the four people convicted on firearms charges following 12-month police surveillance of `military-style' training camps in the Urewera bush and the controversial 2007 police raids. Urs and Emily were sentenced to nine months home detention. That sentence was suspended last week while they appeal their convictions.

Jail Terms for Two of the Urewera Four

These people have already lost their lives for almost five years. This sentence is a perversion of what goes by the name of democracy in this country.

Prison sentences for two of Urewera Four

A High Court judge in Auckland has said those convicted following the Urewera raids were establishing a private militia at camps near Ruatoki in Bay of Plenty, and had serious intent.

Reuters,

26 April, 2012

Tame Iti and the man Justice Hansen called Iti's lieutenant, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, have been sentenced to two years and six months' jail for having firearms and molotov cocktails at the camps.

Sentencing the so-called Urewera Four in the High Court at Auckland on Thursday, Justice Hansen said the private militia was was a frightening prospect and against New Zealanders' way of life.

A jury in March found Iti, Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey guilty of having firearms and molotov cocktails.

The jury was not able to decide on the main charge, of being part of an organised criminal group

On Thursday, Justice Hansen indicated Signer and Bailey would be sentenced to a term of nine months, but adjourned their case in order to look into if that can be served at home.

Iti and his supporters in the gallery performed a haka as the judge was delivering his sentence. Bailey cried while her sentence was delivered, and other people shook and and cried after the sentences were delivered.

The four were among 18 people arrested in police raids in Auckland, Wellington and the Bay of Plenty in 2007.

The Crown lawyer Ross Burns said the defence lawyers would seek a discharge without conviction. but that was not appropriate because the group committed serious crimes.

He said a maximum prison sentence of four years should be imposed

Prison opposed

One of the original accused says none of the four should be sent to prison.

Omar Hamed, who was originally charged with the others, says the case has gone on for more than 4½ years and they should not be put behind bars.

Charges dropped against Urewera Four

The nature of this has been to destroy the lives of people for almost five years and to discourage dissent in this country.  This was always going to happen.

Urewera raid defendents want all charges dismissed

Two of the defendants in the Te Urewera raids trial say they want all charges against them thrown out now the Crown has decided not to pursue the final charge against them.

Radio New Zealand,

9 May, 2012

The last and most significant charge against the four was formally stayed at a hearing at the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday.

In March this year, Tame Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey were convicted of the illegal possession of firearms and restricted weapons in Te Urewera National Park in 2007.

However the jury could not reach a verdict on the main charge of being part of an organised criminal group.

Reasons for not proceeding on that charge included the length of time the case has already taken and the already high cost.

Urs Signer says he is speaking with his lawyer to try to overturn the firearms convictions. " In my view Operation Eight is a stuff up of epic proportions," he said.

Tame Iti wants the whole case revisited and the firearms charges dropped.

"I want to be able to be a free man, to be still able to travel around the world without having that stigma that's been ... hanging on my back there all the time."

Iti, Kemara, Signer and Bailey will be sentenced on the firearms charges on 24 May.

Apology up to police

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said the Tuhoe iwi deserves an apology from police over the raids. "Lots of families within Tuhoe suffered hugely. We still have children who are traumatised by that particular event."

Prime Minister John Key said any apology would be up to police.

"They genuinely believed that they were dealing with a situation where there was suspected serious terrorist activity. Now, courts have failed to prove that, or disprove that, actually."

The Tuhoe settlements of Taneatua and Ruatoki were at the centre of the raids.

Tuhoe chief negotiator Tamati Kruger, who gave evidence at the trial and is a relative of Tame Iti, said that while he was overjoyed at the decision not to proceed, the saga had already ruined lives.

"It brings to a conclusion a disaster that will be recorded in New Zealand history as one of the worst things that has happened between the state and its own citizens."

Mr Kruger says he wants to now turn to repairing the damage done by the four-and-a-half year ordeal.

Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara's lawyer, Jeremy Bioletti, said the decision was a tacit acknowledgement that the Crown never had a strong case on the organised criminal group charge.

Tame Iti's lawyer Russell Fairbrother told Morning Report the case had changed considerably since the original charges were laid.

"I think the defence was a strong defence and it's been a huge amount of money spent on this for very little result."

The Crown's reasons for not pursuing the charge include:

• The maximum penalty for the lead charge is five years compared to four years for the firearms convictions, so a conviction on the charge would not affect the overall sentence.

• The accused would have a lengthy wait for a re-trial. The case has already gone on for almost five years and a re-trial would not be likely to take place until 2013.

• The spiraling court costs, which are already in the millions.

• The unprecedented media interest in the case which could affect the fairness of a re-trial.

Coverage by Radio New Zealand with comments by John Minto