October 31, 2019
Rally against armed police patrols
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson, Auckland City Councillor Efeso Collins and Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group member Julia Whaipooti are set to speak at a rally on Saturday against a police plan to have armed offenders squad members on mobile patrol.
The Auckland rally is organised by criminal justice group People Against Prisons Aotearoa.
Spokesperson Emilie Rākete says police statistics show Māori are almost eight times more likely than Pākehā to be the victims of police violence, so the introduction of police armed with automatic weapons is likely to result in American-style shootings of Māori and Pacific people.
She says police cars patrolling Māori and Pacific neighbourhoods armed with machine guns will turn the country’s most diverse neighbourhoods into police states.
The Rally to End Armed Police Patrols is at noon Saturday in Manukau Square.
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