Iran consulate a target?

Press, 15 December 1988, Page 6

Iran consulate a target?

PA Wellington Fears that Iran’s proposed Wellington consulate might be a target for terrorist attacks and violence were voiced at a Wellington City Council planning hearing yesterday.

The town planning committee was rehearing an application from the Iranian Government to use a property at 23 Hobson Crescent, Thorndon, for a diplomatic residence and consulate in the resi-dentially-zoned area.

Last month a council planning hearing turned down Iran’s original application for use of the twostorey wooden property, on the grounds that it might attract a “dangerous element.”

The decision noted that there could be a “clear detriment to the perceived safety” of adjacent uses of a school and a child-care centre.

The council subsequently overturned the hearing decision, and this resulted in yesterday’s rehearing by the committee.

A spokeswoman for the Public Service Child-Care Centre at 21 Hobson Crescent, Ms Kay Switzer, said the proposed consulate would be marked with a plaque and flagpole. It would presumably be listed in the telephone directory and open to the public. It would be identified with Iran and its policies and this might make it a target for all kinds of activities. “In essence, any threat

to the consultate is a threat to our centre,” she said.

“In the event of an emergency, the difficulty of evacuating small children, some unable to walk and almost all incapable of following directions, does not bear thinking about,” Ms Switzer said. Earlier in the hearing, the committee chairman, Mr Rex Nicholls, questioned the Iranian Charge d’Affaires’ Mr Hossein Amin Rad, about the security aspect and the situation of the children if gunfire broke out.

Mr Amin Rad said he was sure no security problems would arise.