Policeman tears card from women’s Anzac wreath

Press, 26 April 1978, Page 1

Policeman tears card from women’s Anzac wreath

PA Auckland A memorial card dedicated to the female victims of war was tom from a wreath at the Auckland war memorial yesterday by a police constable.

The wreath had been laid by members of the Women’s Action Group, dressed in black and their heads covered by black veils, at the mid-morning commemorative service in the domain. Its memorial card bore the words: “We remember all the forgotton women: all those who died in battle, those raped and mutilated, our sisters who have had their lives destroyed by the wars of this century.”

The wreath lay for several minutes among others placed by members of the public. A small crowd gathered to read the card and the constable moved to the front of the crowd.

He pulled the card from the wreath and was surrounded by members of the group who questioned his right to remove it.

A young woman dressed in a black trouser suit was near the group holding a camera. The constable approached her and asked for her film. She said she was a journalist, but was not carrying her press card.

The woman, Miss Kirsten Warner, a journalist employed by Suburban

Newspapers, Ltd, said later that the constable had told her that if she could not prove her identity he would take the film.

“He tried to take the camera from me,” she said. “He tried to pull the strap over my head.”

After two other policemen joined the group, the constable stopped his efforts to get the film and walked into the museum auditorium, carrying the memorial card. Miss Warner said later she was not a member of the Women’s Action Group. She knew the group intended to lay a wreath and had attended the ceremony to take photographs.

The president of the Northern Journalists’ Union (Mr J. A. Tully) said later that Miss Warner had been advised to write a letter of complaint to the head of the police in Auckland (Assistant Commissioner J. W. Overton). A copy would be sent to the union for consideration.

However, Mr Tully said the principle still remained that the police had no right to confiscate film from a photographer in a public place. The president of the Auckland Returned Services’ Association (Mr J. R. Gardiner) said he personally found nothing offensive in the message attached to the Women’s Action Group wreath.

A wreath was also placed on the memorial dedicated to the continuing numbers of victims in East Timor. This wreath was untouched.

The deputy head of the Auckland police district (Deputy Assistant Commissioner E. J. Trappitt) said that initial inquiries into the incident indicated that the police were acting on a complaint about the inscription on the wreath. The complaint was made by a woman. Mr Trappitt said he could not comment further on the incident until all inquiries were completed. “Ceremonies at war memorials are increasingly becoming the scene of emotional interaction between activist groups,” he said.

Earlier, during the ceremony, for example, police had had to ask a demonstrator to lower a placard he held high when the National Anthem was played. “The. police have to do their nit to maintain decorum and the right atmosphere,” he said. “They had to tread a narrow path down the centre.”

A placard bearing the words “Let East Timor decide” was also seized by the police during the midmorning ceremony.

The placard was held by a member of the Auckland branch of the Campaign for an Independent East Timor. It was returned to the demonstrators after the police and members of the campaign, one of whom was a lecturer in law, met to discuss the issue.

In Hamilton, the police said that a minority radical group was responsible for obscene slogans painted on the Hamilton Cenotaph yesterday morning. Between 4.10 a.m., when the police checked the site, and 5 a.m., when a participant in the Dawn Parade arrived, a swastika and obscene slogans were painted on the memorial and five placards bearing obscene slogans were placed around the cenotaph.