Five arrestees appeared in the Rotorua and Wellington District Courts today, after yesterday evening’s revoking of Jamie Lockett’s bail in the Auckland High Court.
In Rotorua, Tame Iti was denied bail and will reappear on October 24th. In Wellington, four arrestees were expected to have a hearing on whether or not their cases would be moved to Auckland, but no decision was reached. All four will reappear on Friday for a bail hearing.
Around 4-5 people in Auckland have been questioned by police on Tuesday and Wednesday, although none have been arrested. It is extremely important that anyone called in for questioning has a lawyer present, and makes no comment whatsoever. There is no such thing as a harmless conversation when it comes to police questioning.
Solidarity events held across Aotearoa / NZ and Australia
Melbourne, Australia – 30 people gathered outside the NZ Consulate Tuesday morning to voice their opposition to the arrests. [ Report: 1 and 2 (with photos) ]
Christchurch – Around 80 people gathered in Cathedral Square Tuesday evening to send a message of support and solidarity to the arrestees, their families and friends and the people of Tuhoe. [ Flyer ] [ 3 Short Videos ]
Sydney, Australia – Wednesday morning saw 30 people protest outside the NZ Consulate-General. [ Report ]
Rotorua – Around 50 delegates attending an indigenous people’s health conference, from the Pacific Basin and North America, marched from the town centre to the District Court for Tame Iti’s bail hearing in the afternoon.
Wellington – 200 people attended a demonstration was held today outside the District Court before four arrestees appeared inside. Some people wore stickers stating “terrorist sympathiser”. [ Report ] [ Photos: 1 | 2 ] [ Video ]
Stand in solidarity!
- Everywhere: Any letters emailed to lettersforprisoners[at]riseup[dot]net will printed out and distributed to arrestees. Obviously don’t write anything that could negatively impact on you or anyone else! You can also write directly to the Wellington prisoners. [ Wgtn prisoner contact info ].
- Auckland: A solidarity group has been formed, and will meet next on Thursday at 6pm at the Unite Offices on Queen St.
- Whakatane: A hikoi will be held Friday 19th, meeting 9am at the carpark behind the Strand (near the Warehouse) and going to the Whakatane Police station. [ Callout ]
- Lower Kaimai: A weekend has been organised to discuss and organise in solidarity with the arrestees [ Callout ].
- Wellington: Solidarity demonstration outside Wellington District Court, Friday 19, 10am. [ More upcoming solidarity events].
- Christchurch: A solidarity demonstration will be held in Cathedral Square at 12noon on Saturday.
- Dunedin: A rally against police intimidation of political activists will be held at 12 noon, Saturday 20th outside the Albany St Labour Party office
- Sydney, Australia: Public meeting & demonstration on Thursday October 25th, 5:30pm outside NZ Consulate-General, 55 Hunter St, Sydney
- Melbourne, Australia: A solidarity demonstration will be held Saturday 27th in Federation Square, 12noon.
At this stage, donations can be made to a defence fund organised by Global Peace & Justice Auckland. Identify the donation as being for the defence fund. 38-9000-0099726-00 GLOBAL PEACE & JUSTICE AKLD.
Links: AIMC Feature 1 | AIMC Feature 2 | Remember Security Culture!
Updates
7:51pm – One News reported during their broadcast that Police were currently searching two more houses in Tuhoe country.
Thursday – It now appears that an 18th person was arrested somewhere in the Bay Of Plenty. They were scheduled to appear in the Rotorua District Court Thursday morning. More details as they come to hand.
AoCafe, a popular Tino Rangatiratanga website, has been down since these raids. A comment on AIMC states that “the server which hosts the Manamotuhake and AoCafe websites has been confiscated as part of the raids.”
Two houses in in Palmerston North, one in Lower Hutt, one in Wellington, and one at Lake Waikaremoana were searched yesterday.
It appears that 1 arrestee was released on bail in Palmerston North under restrictive bail conditions Wednesday morning. He will appear in the Auckland District Court on November 1st.
In the Wellington District Court yesterday, Michael Bott, lawyer for one of the Wellington arrestees, stated that he had been unable to contact his client in Rimutaka Prison
2:05pm – A Wellington arrestee who is being held in Rimutaka sent his love and thanked everyone for their support. Knowing about the worldwide support they’ve been getting has made a real difference for those inside.