A law dean has says police could potentially remove vehicles and arrest more protesters if anti-mandate protests in Wellington intensified.
Dean of the AUT Law School Khylee Quince told Q+A with Jack Tame that police had approached the situation in a similar way to other protests in the past decade.
“This has tended to be the culture of the New Zealand Police, to allow people to exercise their right to protest, cause a bit of discomfort and possibly public disagreement, but I think they have done pretty well,” Quince said.
“They have pivoted to arrest when people have gone beyond minor infringements and dealt with those behaviours accordingly.“
She said trespassing the protesters was a civil matter, not criminal, and that police were arresting people based on their behaviour and not simply the fact that they were on Parliament’s grounds.
It follows a third and much less peaceful day of protests. (Source: 1News)
“The test of democracy is, of course, the balancing of the rights of this very small minority versus the overwhelming majority of the New Zealand public. That includes the rights of other Wellingtonians to go about their ordinary business.”
Quince said it was her personal view that the ongoing “staged intervention” by law enforcement could become more forceful if the situation worsened.
“Some of the rhetoric coming out is verging on hate speech, threats to kill. This is beyond trespass, some minor wilful damage and public inconvenience,” Quince said.
“If we get to a swelling of numbers, and it looks like there could be further public affray, that might be an appropriate time for police to step it up.”
She said more police intervention could result in the forcible removal of vehicles and more arrests.
Quice said another part of deciding when to escalate the use of force was how police actions could be used by protesters.
“There is a risk of playing into their narrative. Nobody wants to make martyrs out of these people. While that won't necessarily be influencing police action, that will certainly be part of the decision-making process.”
Quince said there should be a concerted effort to help restore social cohesion with anti-mandate protesters once New Zealand is through the pandemic.
She mentioned that the protesters represented a small minority as compared to an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders.
“There has always been that fringe element. This is no greater than the number of people who are unhappy generally,” Quince said.
“In six months time, attempting to bring back people who may have been left in the cold for a number of months… will be essential.
“There will have to be government working groups working on that.”
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