5 activists in court in Wellington
5 activists had to go to court this morning for a first appearance after being arrested last Saturday outside the US embassy in Wellington. The 5 were arrested on an anti-war demonstration that marked the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the US imperialists and its allies. [Reports and photos 1 | 2 ]
The 5 face various charges: wilful damage (2), obstruction (3) and resisting arrest (1). One of the protesters has a fractured rib and a concussion because of police violence.
The police wanted to impose three heavy bail conditions. Firstly that the 5 activists are not allowed to go to the US embassy (including being banned from Molesworth st), secondly not to leave Wellington at all for the duration of the case and that the activists are not allowed to 'associate' with each other!
The lawyer challenged those conditions and new conditions were proposed (to live at the same address and 'not to approach within 50 metres of the US embassy'). Again, these conditions were challenged by the activists but the judge ruled against them. The anti-war protesters will now appeal against these bail conditions.
A status hearing has been set for early June 2006.
Comments
Re: 5 activists in court in Wellington
That's shocking. Especially proposing the activists are not allowed to associate with each other. It seems the Police don't really take into account long standing basic human rights
(enshrined in NZ law and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights) such as the right to free association.
Hope the injured activist will be able to recover from his or her brush with the thick blue line.
Re: 5 activists in court in Wellington
If the cops had their way there would be a 24-hour curfew and everybody would have to stay off the street, to reduce crime statistics.
Best wishes to the protestor they duffed up.
Re: 5 activists in court in Wellington
i recollect that bail condition about associating with other activists was used on animal rights activists during anti-vivisection campaign at the IUPS conference in chch some years ago. can anyone remember if/how this was resolved?
Re: 5 activists in court in Wellington
Amen Cam - the freedom of association is a Universal human right, not even just a national one... How they dare breach that i do no know.
And "not allowed to leave wellington" till June! they haven't even been found guilt of anything yet they've effectively been put on home arrest - sure it's a really big home, but still...
Sick.
Obstruction during a picket? No Shit! And if throwing water bombs at the US embassy is "wilful damage" then i'm due to be in a lot more trouble in the future.
Re: 5 activists in court in Wellington
Did the judge define 'Wellington'? Did all the activists actually come from Wellington anyway?
Re: 5 activists in court in Wellington
"Did the judge define 'Wellington'? Did all the activists actually come from Wellington anyway?"
just to clarify, this condition (aswell as the other 2) was proposed by the cops, not the judge. so the lawyer talked to the cop and said theses bail conditions are ridicelous and the cop changed them to tresspass from US embassy and giving them a residential address for the duration of the case. we challenged these but the judge thought they were good coz he saw the chalking on at the embassy on his way to work and didn't like. so he thought it was reasonable to tresspass the activists from the US embassy. The activists will now appeal against these conditions.