Anti-tour groups agree to Beehive meeting

Press, 4 August 1981, Page 2

Anti-tour groups agree to Beehive meeting

P 4 Wellington The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) will' chair what he has termed a'“last chance meeting today to try to ease national tensions as a result of the Springbok tour. He said at a’ news conference ■ yesterday that the meeting would bring together people of opposing views but that it was “hard to say" whether he was optimistic of success. Representatives of groups for and against the. tour would be present as well as members of the council of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.' The Commissioner of Police, Mr R. J. Walton, and the secretary of the Police Association. Dr R. A. Moodie, are also expected to be present. '' ■ • •

The meeting, wich is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in the Beehive, was postponed from yesterday because ; anti-tour groups wanted time to decide whether to attend and what attitude to adopt in the discussions.

The chairman of HART, Ms Pauline McKay, said that she did not favour the suggestion of a shortened tour in exchange for non-disruptive protests. She said, "I say firmly, the only way to solve the prob-

lem is for the Springboks to go-”

Mr Muldoon, said on Friday, when he :first called for the meeting, that as well as discussing a shortened tour the meeting would see if there was common ground on the tour issuer

He said on Sunday that he saw the meeting as a last chance and that a snap election might be called if the talks failed to reach agreement.

Dr Moodie was quoted on radio yesterday as saying that the delay in holding the meeting was unfortunate because some of the rugby union councillors who had come to Wellington to accompany their chairman, Mr C. A. Blazey, could not stay until today.

But he was confident that the meeting would proceed and he hoped that the parties would reach agreement. Labour Party sources said that Dr Moodie seemed anxious to reach a compromise on the tour because of fears that police strength was being over-stretched in the bid to protect the Springboks and their matches.

Dr Moodie was reported to have told members of Parliament that policemen whose normal duties involve office work are being mobilised and that retired

policemen are being recalled to handle routine duties.

With the heavy concentration of policemen required for individual tour matches, he was said to fear that policemen may not be able to cope should a big emergency occur in areas where police numbers have been run down to accommodate the demands of the tour.

In other tour developments yesterday a HART councillor, Mr Trevor Richards, said that his Wellington home had been damaged twice at the week-end.

He said “At 1 a.m. Sundayfive bricks were thrown at my house. Two windows were smashed and broken glass splattered our lounge. “Last night a large stone was thrown at the house. It missed the windows." The Council for Civil Liberties has criticised., the police for wearing riot gear when confronting protesters at Palmerston North on Saturday. The president of the council, Mr Dennis Rose, said that the wearing of such gear was provocative.

He said, “the fact is that the protest organisers had said there was no intention of invading the ground at Palmerston North. Their protest action was peaceful and the police did not need to escalate the situation." Mr Walton accused civil liberty and protest groups of trying to smear the image of the police “to weaken the resolve to uphold law and order."

He said that he could longer stand idly by in the

face of criticism from such groups. Threats of private prosecutions against policemen were only a means of undermining police actions.

Mr Walton said “When police contol lines are formed for valid reasons, they must be held. People who attack such lines accept the risk of being involved in the use of force by the police when the police have no other alternative.” Mr Walton said that in the event of legal action against policemen “it should not be over overlooked" that policemen could also resort to civil action for malicious prosecution.

The police had shown in Palmerston North on Saturday that they would not be provoked into taking unnecessary action. On Saturday they had faced a large number of protesters who had spat, uttered obscenities, and thrown eggs, paint,.and missiles.

Mr Walton said, “The present situation, insofar as the police are concerned, is not a matter of rugby but the upholding of law and order." The man in charge of the police’s “Operation Rugby," Chief Superintendent Brian Davies, said he was pleased that protest leaders had had sufficient control of their supporters to withdraw from the confrontation in Palmerston North. There had been evidence of a lack of control a week earlier at Hamilton. Mr Davies would not comment when asked about suggestions that protesters were being led by Left-wing extremists.