March held in spite of threat

Press, 9 April 1988, Page 1

March held in spite of threat

PA . Wellington A Masterton businesswoman, Mrs Barbara Sims, marched through Masterton in support of the police yesterday in spite of a threat that her house would be fire-bombed. ; . I Mrs Sims and Ms Elizabeth Miller organised the public march, in which more than 2000 protesters took part. | A bomb threat almost led to the cancellation of the march. iThej police received a call just before midday saying a bomb had been planted in a car

in Queen Street on the march route. |.l 'I ' J Sergeant J Michael Murtagh conferred With Mrs Sims, Ms ; Miller and | others. The route i was changed! to avoid the poten- ) tial danger area. Other marchers were unaware of the ) bomb threat. They included elderly people and mothers pushing babies in prams. They! carried a variety I of signs urging a stop to the fires. Mrs Sims j said she ; received fire-bomb threats by telephone ! on Tuesday night and Wednes-

day morning. She declined to say whether it was a male or female voice but says she did not recognise it and it was different each time. The caller had told her not to go ahead with the march “or else I would be next and that they would not call again.” Mrs Sims said she had passed the matter to the police. Ms Miller said other people had said they were worried about marching because of possible repercussions. Such fear was felt by a broad range of people, she said.

Ms Miller said the threats made it even more important to march to show that people were not going: to be intimidated. “If we cancel the march we are giving in to the intimidation that the police say is what they are receiving all the time,” she said. Mrs Sims and her husband own a shoe shop in the main street They and their two children moved to Masterton from Auckland:ll years ago because of a business opportunity and the facilities Masterton had to offer.