Long sit-in ends in arrests

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 3

Long sit-in ends in arrests

Nelson reporter A long sit-in by Maori protesters at the Whakarewa School Trust Board home in Motueka has ended with the arrest of nine people at the home on charges of trespass. Nelson and Motueka police went to the home at 11.30 a.m. yesterday to support a sheriff and several High Court bailiffs in their execution of a court warrant to return the home to its owner unencumbered by people. • The house on the property had been occupied in defiance of the Anglican diocese of Nelson and the Whakarewa Trust Board since February, when the board cancelled a contract with the Rev. Harvey Ruru to run a whanau-based, skills pro-

gramme for young, disadvantaged people. Mr Ruru disputed the cancellation of the programme, which he said was in line with the original deed of trust under which the church had obtained Maori land. He and Mrs Ruru held a sit-in at the property and remained even after the trust board had the power and telephone services cut. Mr Ruru also lodged claims with the Waitangi Tribunal seeking the return of 400 ha of Whakarewa land to Maori tribes with an interest in the area. > The trust board was granted an eviction order in the High Court on July 11 but Mr Justice Eichlebaum ruled that it should lie in the court until August 9 to allow the Rurus to find other accommodation.

The officer in charge of yesterdays police party, Sergeant Jim Burrows, said people at the home were asked to leave and were given trespass notices when they refused. When they continued to refuse to leave six women and three men were arrested. They will appear in the District Court at Nelson on August 30. Mr Ruru said last evening that he would remain in Motueka and continue to fight the trust board over development of the Whakarewa property. “We don’t intend to leave the area. We will carry on pressing the issue,” he said.