Police head’s ‘fiasco’?

Press, 27 July 1981, Page 6

Police head’s ‘fiasco’?

The Society for the Protection of Individual Rights (5.P.1.R.) has called for the resignation of the Commissioner of Police (Mr R. J. Walton). Mrs Elizabeth Sutherland, for 5.P.1.R., said a telegram had been sent to the Minister of Police (Mr Couch) asking for Mr Walton’s resignation. “Democracy died at Rugby Park on Saturday," said Mrs Sutherland. “The police surrendered to mob violence." She said the entire “fiasco" could be put on the shoulders of the Commissioner of Police who was in command of the police at Rugby Park. “When film of Saturday's incident was seen overseas, she said, the New Zealand police would be the laughingstock of the world.

“The police were running round in circles, unable to remove 250 protesters from the middle of the ground.

“I cannot understand how the protesters were allowed to get into the ground. They should have been accompanied by the police in their riot gear and stopped from getting near the ground. “Surely it would have been common sense to have rolls of barbed wire in front of the fence where they burst through. They could have been stopped long enough for the police to deal with them." she said.

Mrs Sutherland thought that if a baton charge was required to remove the protesters from the field, it should have been carried out.

"The spectators trusted the police and they were let down dearly." she said.

“Why the police did not use a‘ lot of vehicles to remove the protesters I do not know.. They could have used sheep trucks. If they act like animals they must ex-

pect to be treated like animals.”

A former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Gideon Tait, also wants Mr Walton to resign, reports the Press Association. Mr Tait said Mr Walton had the resources to clear Rugby Park and allow the match' to proceed.

"They (the police) should have gone in with tear-gas and dogs." he said. The affair was a symptom of the "back-pedalling" passive policing adopted by the present administration. “The police will have to take a tougher line to survive. What they have done is given .way to anarchy. What it means is you can tear down fences with impunity,"

said Mr Tait. Mrs Sutherland was also -.worried about the presence of communist flags among the protesters.

"Many of the hard-core protesters are political agitators and terrorists and are not really concerned about South Africa," she said.

Setting off a bomb in a toilet cubicle at Christchurch Airport she described as sheer terrorism.

Tomorrow Mrs Sutherland will lead a' delegation to Wellington to visit Mr Couch and the Minister of Broadcasting (Mr Cooper).

She said that it looked as if there had been co-opera-tion between television cameramen and the protesters because of the coverage of incidents such as the broken glass on the field at Gisborne and the breaking down of the fence at the Waikato match.

“We will also, be visiting Police Headquarters seeking better action from the police at future matches," said Mrs Sutherland.