Prosecution action may be taken against individuals who attended a large gathering at Memorial Park, says police.
Thousands of people gathered at the Tauranga park on Saturday to make a stand about freedoms in New Zealand.
Promoted as a peaceful protest/Freedoms Picnic via social media by The Freedoms & Rights Coalition of New Zealand, the gathering which began at 11am was planned to be ‘a peaceful stand for all those concerned with the state of our nation'.
The crowd that gathered stood quietly, listening to speakers, and joining in singing together.
Police say they were called to the gathering over the weekend.
'While largely peaceful, many of those gathered today failed to wear a face covering or maintain social distancing which is in breach of the Covid-19 alert level two restrictions,” says a police spokesperson.
'At this stage there have been no arrests or infringements issued, but police will continue to assess and investigate the information gathered.
'Prosecution action may be taken against individuals in the coming days.”
6 comments
Police State
Posted on 01-11-2021 11:57 | By Slim Shady
“whilst largely peaceful”. There you go. Implies there was some aggro, which there wasn’t. How many arrested for not being peaceful? None. Masks not required outside. Social distancing within your own bubble not required. No laws broken. Certainly entirely peaceful, not “largely”. Police State lies. Good luck with persecuting because the compliance is slipping as people start to wake up. Better build some more Courts and Prisons.
Really!
Posted on 01-11-2021 12:35 | By jacksprat
Come on,lets get serious now-try and prosecute anyone there-thank goodness we still have people that will stand for something, other than the mass sheep population that will blindly follow stupid rules that make no sense. Wait for more protests as they will increase with the ridiculous rules that are being forced upon us.Whats logical about putting a mask on as you enter a restaurant and then taking it off as you sit down?? There is no logic ,so sorry. Can we please find a place where all the people who are suffering from fear can go and let the rest of us live our lives!
Proves the Point
Posted on 01-11-2021 12:46 | By Avman
The people were protesting that the government is taking away their rights and freedoms, and turning us into a totalitarian state. So what does the government do?, send in the police to try to arrest them, even though they were entirely peaceful. I'd say that totally proves the protester's point.
Spend time solving real crime
Posted on 01-11-2021 13:03 | By an_alias
Come on Police, please spend your time solving REAL crime and NOT people protesting the lack of freedom we have now been deprived of. You need to start standing with the people not pushing tyrannical laws.
Wow.
Posted on 01-11-2021 17:37 | By DaveTheCynic
Big "Rules are for other people" attitude from the comments.
@ DaveTheCynic
Posted on 02-11-2021 10:32 | By Yadick
You're on the button. Most of the protesting isn't anti-vax, that's been around forever and is a minority of conspiracists (is that even a word?) The push against loss of democratic right, though is at least based on truth and evidence, isn't even really the big push. Most of it is a 'no one's going to tell me what to do' attitude that is costumed in these other stands. Unfortunately that is the society that we are breeding today.
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