Posts by Russell Brown
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The TV3 site is chucking up server-busy error messages. It'd seem to be getting hammered.
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There's got to be a story in why TV3 were either invited, or 'accidentally told' to be there for that dawn raid. And were allowed to film about four feet from the door. The 'raid' can't have been that dangerous if civilians were standing directly in the line of any potential fire.
I think there's no doubt that there's been a lot of leaking on this one, already. But that's what journalists have sources for -- that crucial nod on the big jobs.
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It's the thin end of the wedge and to say "one of the news stories" is a bit disingenuous with regard to your attitude to the MSM. Yes it would seem to be quite a bit different but we all know things are rarely what they seem.
It was the Stuff story, saying police "expected", based on their surveillance, to find grenades. An updated version of the story now says "in Auckland 10 people are facing charges of illegal possession of Molotov cocktails, rifles and ammunition."
However, I would be the last one to advocate armed stuggle against the colonial powers that be. That would serve no purpose what so ever. It would not surprise me to find a certain Mr Wishart behind part of all this. Do you remember his piece on the NZAIF (armed intervention force) ?
Much as I dislike Wishart and what he does, I see no cause to pluck his name out of thin air in this case.
I suspect that the majority of those arrested and/or raided are guilty of nothing more than having known persons of interest. But there seems enough out there already to suggest that a few people have been engaged in things in which I would damn well expect the police to intervene, whatever the politics of those involved.
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Indeed it would - thought they'd need to show that the group was a group that carried out terrorist acts (difficult as none have been committed) and that participation was for that purpose. In other words, they'd need to have serious evidence of planning and conspiring to commit murder or blow stuff up for a political purpose. And if they don't, then all they have are firearms charges and a big headache.
I guess it's possible that it's all a terrible mistake, and that "The Freedom Fighters" is merely a popular phrase in Tuhoe rhetoric (which it is) and not really an organised group. But there have been some pretty detailed leaks, indicating close-quarter police surveillance this year and last year.
If half of what's being reported is correct, I think that, as Broad put it, it was "prudent" of police to intervene.
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I must correct myself. The raids were, in fact, conducted under the Summary Proceedings Act but any mention of the TSA is scary to me. Having lived in the UK under the PTA (prevention of terrorism act) I have seen many injustices enacted under such laws. I feel sorry for the "averege Joe" in the states on this point too. The quote attributed to Edmund Burke springs to mind "first they came for the communists" etc.
The way the PTA has been used in Britain is an outrage: to justify removing an elderly heckler (and party member) from a Labour conference; against the guy who suggested to a policeman his horse was gay; and against any number of people seeking to engage in no more than peaceful public protest.
Arresting people alleged to have been training in the use of "military-style weapons" (one of the news stories mentioned grenades) for political ends would seem to be quite a bit different.
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__Some of them are known to have pulled out once they realised the level of violence planned.__
So, they're sweeping up anyone who has even talked to those involved, and in the process smearing them as terrorists. Lovely.
It'll all unfold, but if they did realise "the level of violence involved" and just kept it to themselves, then they're complicit, aren't they?
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TV3 has video of a police raid on a house in Wellington this morning.
Anyone recognise the property?
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Wait & see - but the radar has been out there for something like this ever scince Helens rascist refusal for Maori to test claims in court.
You might indeed want to wait and see.
The reporting is that Maori sovereignty, environmental and "peace" activists are all involved.
If the reality is anything like what's in the Stuff story (and the leaks to the papers this morning appear to be quite detailed) then I hope they throw the book at the bastards.
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Off-topic but just in -- looks like there's something up in Tuhoe territory:
Maori and environmental activists are believed to have been targeted in a series of early morning anti-terrorist raids across the North Island today in which firearms were seized and arrests made.
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__but couldn't think of an appropriate rhyme for Banks...__
... 'thanks' ???
Phalanx.
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