David Farrar: The Police illegally arrested Lucy Rogers and lied about it

The Independent Police Complaints Authority has an excellent report on the policing of public protests in New Zealand.

It recommends some thoughtful legislative changes to strengthen the right to protest and counter-protest. They also look at three case studies:

1. The Let Women Speak Rally. They found “The Operation Commander and the Forward Commander did not properly respond to unfolding events by deploying additional staff to protect LWS supporters.”
2. Mr N waving an Israeli flag near the Auckland Town Hall on the outskirts of Aotea Square at the same time as a pro-Palestinian rally was starting inside Aotea Square. They found “The arrest for obstruction was unlawful because there was no reasonable apprehension of a breach of the peace“
3. Lucy Rogers waving a sign by way of counter-protest a pro-Palestinian protest group marched along Queen Street

Lucy has blogged here previously on her experiences, which seemed outrageous. And the IPCA has agreed. In regards to Lucy they found:

• The use of force to push Lucy to the rear of the footpath was unjustified.
• Removing the sign was unjustified and aggravated the situation.
• The arrest for breach of the peace was unlawful because there was a very low probability that Lucy’s safety was at risk, so the interference with her right to protest is unjustified.

They also noted:

We do not accept that Officer Q or Officer R could have believed what they have said in their reports.

This is a polite way of saying the two Officers lied to the IPCA. This is very serious.

Equally disturbing is the response from the Police, who have basically rejected the IPCA findings with regards to Lucy.

The IPCA has found the use of force to move the woman away was unjustified and the arrest was unlawful.

While Police acknowledge the IPCA’s view on this, we believe our officers were acting in the woman’s best interests to keep her safe due to their previous experience at pro-Palestine events which had turned violent very quickly.

It should be very concerning that despite the IPCA finding the officers made an unlawful arrest, and lied about it, the Police are backing the officers.

This should be a major story.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.