VIOLENT RECEPTION TO KY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31277, 25 January 1967, Page 1

VIOLENT RECEPTION TO KY

Nine Arrested After Clashes With Police

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, January 24.

Angry demonstrators gave the Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Air Vice-Marshal Ky, and Mrs Ky a violent and noisy reception when they arrived in Auckland tonight.

At Auckland international airport police and demonstrators fought after a man had thrown himself in front of the car carrying the Commissioner of Police (Mr C. L. Spencer) in an attempt to stop Air Vice-Marshal Ky and his party.

The violence was repeated outside the Star Hotel, where 60 police fought to hold back a screaming crowd of 400 placard-wav-ing demonstrators.

At hast nine people, including women, were arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour. They will appear in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court tomorrow.

Among them was the young man who had thrown himself in front of the car at the airport. Police said he had not been injured when he was struck by the car. The brief outburst of violence at the airport was sudden and ui expected. The banner-waving crowd of 800 had been good-natured and quiet, apart from periodic outbursts of booing and chanting of “Ky—no.” The arrival from Wellington of the R.N.Z.A.F. DC6 carrying Air Vice-Marshal Ky and his party at 8.44 p.m. led to a great outburst of booing and chanting, and some exchanges between pro-Ky and anti-Ky factions. At one stage, cheers drowned out booing.

First off the plane, behind airport barriers, was Mrs Ky, in an emerald-green cape with hood.

The chanting rose to a crescendo when she was followed by her husband. The party got into cars, and the gates were opened. The first in the procession, a police car, went through unhampered.

Man Stopped Car As Mr Spencer’s car came past the terminal building a young man, followed by a dozen other men and women, broke from the crowd and threw himself in front of the car.

The police driver braked, but not in time to avoid hitting the demonstrator. Others threw themselves in front of

the car and clustered round the car carrying Air ViceMarshal Ky and his wife, while police, with two dogs, moved in to drag them clear. There was a struggle for several minutes while demonstrators, including women, were picked up from the path of the cars and carried to the side of the road, where they were unceremoniously dumped. The first demonstrator to throw himself in front of the car was manhandled by two policemen. One girl who was clinging to a policeman was pulled off by another. She spun across the road and fell to the ground. Path Cleared

Within two or three minutes a path had been cleared and the cars moved off at high speed, while police started to question demonstrators.

After Air Vice-Marshal Ky and his party had left the airport, most of the demonstrators drifted away, although some, including girls who claimed they had been manhandled, stayed to argue with the police. Police and demonstrators also clashed when the Kys arrived at their hotel. At times the demonstrators reached near-riot proportions as about 60 policemen and detectives assisted by two dog patrols fought desperately to hold back the crowd.

The demonstrators, which included many shouting support for Air Vice-Marshal Ky were contained behind a cordon on the opposite side of

the road from the Star Hotel in Albert street about 20 minutes before the official party arrived. Several demonstrators broke through the cordon when Air Vice-Marshal Ky’s car arrived at 9.15. There were several incidents and then a struggle between police and demonstrators in which placards, personal belongings and police helmets were trampled under foot.

In Three Groups There were angry exchanges as the police broke the demonstrators into three groups, pushing one group down Swanson street and the others along Albert street. Later, more than 2500 demonstrators filled the pavement as they marched down Queen street from the Town Hall shouting “Ky, No” and waving banners. After moving back up Queen street, escorted by about two dozen police, patrol cars and dogs, the demonstrators stopped. The leader of the group, a member of the Ky Protest Committee, told the crowd to go home “peacefully all the way.” “You have the satisfaction of being part and parcel of the greatest demonstration of this kind this country has ever seen,” he said. He added that tomorrow the demonstrators planned to picket the hotel and later organise a “big send-off” for Air Vice-Marshal Ky at the airport.

“Rough Handling'’* The chairman of the Auckland Ky Protest Committee, Mr L. Reid, claimed later that some of his demonstrators had been “roughly handled” by police officers. “I complained to an inspector that two women demonstrators had been pinned to a wall by officers,” he said.

“Everyone was herded like sheep along Albert street and down Swanson street by the police. It was an infringement of our rights.

“Anti-Ky and pro-Ky demonstrators were all, herded together,” he said. The committee sent the following telegram to the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake): “Feel you should be informed that 500 citizens were not allowed to stand peacefully opposite the Star Hotel to express protest. “In the interest of peaceful demonstration we request you instruct police to desist from further provocation and brutality.” At his press conference in Wellington this afternoon Air Vice-Marshal Ky said he did not pay attention to demonstrators. He had been asked whether the demonstrations at Parliament today were worse or better than he expected. “Frankly, I don’t see too many of them,” he replied. “When I see them I don’t pay any attention.”