COPS ATTACK ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN AUCKLAND

Trade unionists arrested after peaceful occupation of bank...

Police attacked an anti-war march in Auckland today, arresting four peaceful protesters and injuring several more. The march had been jointly organised by Workers Against the War on Terror and Global Peace and Justice Auckland, and was part of a global day of action against the occupation of Iraq.

Earlier, three hundred protesters had gathered outside the United States consulate, where they burnt the Stars and Stripes and heard news of the anti-war strike being held by dockworkers in San Francisco.

After heading up Queen Street the marchers launched a peaceful occupation of the offices of the ANZ bank. A sound system was brought into the bank, and protesters and ANZ staff heard speeches which described the bank's role in the carve-up of the Iraqi economy by multinational companies based in the West, a plunder which has brought economic chaos and 70% unemployment to Iraq. A message of solidarity from the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unemployed of Iraq was read, and an Iranian woman spoke about her opposition to US threats against her country.

After leaving the ANZ, the protesters were regrouping in Queen St when a man drove his ute into their ranks at some speed, knocking several people out of the way before being stopped. The police used this incident as an excuse to launch an attack upon protesters. Without warning, marchers were set upon, and pushed and shoved onto the footpath. When a leader of the protest used the sound system to assert his right to march on the street police arrested him, prompting anger from his comrades and a series of scuffles that lasted half an hour.

The confrontation spilled onto Victoria St West, as the police tried to arrest more marchers. The crowd chanted 'Police brutality!' and 'Go home copper' as the police threw wild punches and tried to arrest random protesters and even passers by. A number of protesters were freed from police clutches by their comrades, but four ended up in the cells at Auckland Central station, where they were charged with obstruction and assault.

Refusing to disperse, protesters headed back down to the US Consulate, where a series of speakers used an open microphone to denounce the actions of the police. Dave Brown, a spokesman for Workers Against the War on Terror, pointed out the connection between the ANZ occupation and the police attack, noting that 'As soon as we violate the sanctity of capitalist property in any way, the cops act'.

Speakers from Australia and Scotland recalled similar police actions against anti-war demonstrations in their own countries, and emphasised that the anti-war movement was also a movement in defence of democratic liberties threatened by 'anti-terrorist' legislation and the equation of left-wing protest with terrorism.

Another marcher pointed out that at least two of the arrested demonstrators were trade union activists. It is no accident that the trade unions of Iraq are the target of US repression, and that the dockworkers of San Francisco have faced bans on strike action and the rubber bullets of Bush's riot police in recent years. The War on Terror is a war on workers, because it is the working class which suffers when multinational companies steal resources at the point of a gun.

In Aotearoa, trade unions have been unanimous in their opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but many workers mistakenly believe that their own government has nothing to do with Bush's war. They forget the Kiwi troops who served until recently in southern Iraq, the Hercules aircraft and frigates which operated under US control in the Persian Gulf in 2003, and the continuing presence of US bases on our soil, at Waihopai and Harewood.

The trade unionists who were arrested in Auckland today were representing the interests of the workers of Aotearoa, as well as Iraq. The Council of Trade Unions and its affiliates should follow their lead, and the lead of San Francisco dockers,
by throwing its wieght into the anti-war movement.

Everyone disgusted by today's attack on peaceful protesters should attend the next meeting of Workers Against the War on Terror, which will be held at 2pm, on the second of April, at Grey Lynn Community Centre, 510 Richmond Road. (For more details e mail davebrownz (at) yahoo.com)

To find out about Iraq's trade union movement, visit www.uuiraq.org/