Police actions against protesters during the visit of Chinese President Jiang Zemin eight years ago were unjustified says the Police Complaints Authority.
But there was no evidence of police acting under political direction, a report of the investigation released today by the head of the authority, Justice Lowell Goddard, found.
Complaints arose from two incidents in Wellington on September 14, 1999 involving police and protesters demonstrating against Chinese rule of Tibet.
The first incident involved two women, one with a two-year-old child, who had positioned themselves on a traffic island along the route the president’s motorcade would take.
“The women had been sitting on the traffic island for about a minute when three police officers walked over to them and asked if they were planning to wave their flags or just taking a rest,” the report said.
The women said they planned on waving their flags and were told they could not protest there, or anywhere in the immediate vicinity.
“When the president’s motorcade approached…the women got to their feet and reached for their flags, but the three police officers stood in front of them and on top of their flags.
“The women shouted `Free Tibet’ but their right to peacefully protest as they had wished had been arbitrarily curtailed,” the report said.
The second incident happened close to the then Park Royal Hotel, where the president was staying.
About 20 protesters, some with megaphones, had gathered at the corner of Featherston and Grey streets.
In anticipation of protest action police had erected a heavy mesh barricade at the intersection.
Protesters were directed by police to stand behind the barricade.
“The protest was peaceful,” the report said.
One of the protesters addressed the group using a megaphone and some were chanting “talk Tibet”.
“It appears however that Chinese officials at the hotel became seriously concerned that the noise from the protest might be heard from within the hotel,” the report said.
Without warning 15 to 20 police officers moved in between the protesters and the barricade.
“Using a megaphone, police officers advised the protesters they were in a road closure area and asked them to move.
“Understandably the protesters were reluctant.
“Police personnel then moved the protesters along using a skirmish line of some six police men and women.”
The protesters were moved about 100 metres along Featherston Street where they were out of sound and sight of the hotel.
Although some complained of excessive force being used by police, the report said there was no evidence of that on videotapes of the incident and police officers denied the use of such force.
Five of the protesters were arrested, four for obstruction and one for a minor assault on police.
The report found that the police explanation, that the road had been closed, was without legal foundation, as was a suggestion the protesters were causing an obstruction.
The report said many complainants suggested the police may have been subject to political direction to ensure the president did not see or hear protesters during his visit to New Zealand.
But it said it was clear that no political directive was give to the police.
However, it was clear Chinese officials meeting the operational commander for Wellington before the visit, had been at pains to impress upon him their wish that the president neither see nor hear protesters.
“The operational commander told the authority that although he advised the Chinese officials that he would take what steps he lawfully could to limit the president’s exposure to protests, he had also made it clear that he could not give any guarantees and that protest was permitted in New Zealand so long as it was orderly and lawful.”
The police operational order noted the president’s sensitivity to both visible and audible protest and recorded that police would “make every effort to minimise the impact of protest …”
“That undertaking, whilst ostensibly innocuous, carried with it the obvious and inherent risk of curbing or inhibiting the right of protesters to carry out a lawful and peaceful protest,” the report said.
Justice Goddard said in the report that it was not appropriate to hold any individual officer responsible for the acknowedged breaches of the protesters’ rights.
“What is absolutely clear however is that, in the circumstances, the lawful rights of the protesters should have been preserved.”
Justice Goddard said the report had awaited amendments to the New Zealand Police General Instruction relating to demonstrations and a related updated of the New Zealand Police Manual of Best Practice module for VIP Security Planning and Operations before it was issued.
The organiser of the protests was reported today as saying he was happy with authority’s report.
Friends of Tibet spokesman Thuten Kesang said police must remember protesters are allowed to be seen by their targets.
