MARCHERS DEFY COUNCIL BAN

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32032, 5 July 1969, Page 14

MARCHERS DEFY COUNCIL BAN

About 400 persons inarched through Christchurch last night in support of an objection to the siting of an Omega navigation system station in New Zealand. Before the march they defied a City Council ban to hold a meeting in Victoria Square.

The Canterbury Trades Council of the Federation of Labour organised the march, which began in Victoria Square, where several speakers addressed the gathering, travelled along Colombo Street, through Cathedral Square and along Worcester Street to the council chambers. No member of the council was present to receive the objection so it was placed in a mail box attached to grille work blocking the entrance. Organisers with loud-hail-ers told the marchers the route and exhorted the demonstrators to show they could be orderly in demonstrating their protest

As the demonstrators moved off, traffic officers held back traffic and though it banked up in some places it was again moving shortly after the demonstrators had passed. Immediately after the objection had been placed in the mail box the organisers told the crowd to disperse quietly, saying the demonstration had achieved its purpose. Police officers reported no incidents during the march and traffic officers said that although there had been some traffic interference it had not been serious. PROSECUTION? < The Mayor (Mr A. R. Guthrey) said last night the question of whether or not the organisers would be prosecuted depended on reports the council received from the police, traffic department and reserves department.

“If there was no great disturbance, the garden plots In Victoria Square were not disturbed and there was no Inconvenience to the public, the council will probably issue a warning. If those things did occur then un-

doubtedly charges will be laid.” Mr Guthrey said he was not against the protest, the petition or the assembly. His objection was to the use of Victoria Square, which the council considered unsuitable for such gatherings. Other sites had been offered. “It was because of this defiance of the council that I decided not to receive the petition,” he said.