May 22, 2013
Justice needed for Tuhoe innocents
A lawyer for some of those arrested in the 2007 Tūhoe raids says it’s time the people caught up in the police action get justice.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found the way police set up road blocks at Ruatoki and Taneatua to detain and search people was illegal.
Annette Sykes says in addition to the 19 people arrested that day on charges in connection with alleged military style training camps in Te Urewera, there were 66 others who were held by police without being arrested.
"I’m wondering what they're going to do for those 66 people because many of them were huge leaders in the Tūhoe tribe. Some of them have now passed on, what are they going to do to make amends for those people who were illegally detained at two road blocks," she says.
Ms Sykes says the report exposes a culture of racism in the police, as shown by the way the team mounting surveillance on activities in the Ruatoki Valley deliberately kept the police iwi liaison officers in the dark.
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