Maori Party MP for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell, says his first thoughts following the verdict on the ‘Urewera Four’have been for the four people who have been stigmatised by the actions taken by the Crown, andthe peopleof Tuhoewho as a community have been painted as terrorists and have borne the shame and the humiliation of this whole sorry saga.The hung jury on the principal’organised crime’charge, and the mixture of guilty and not-guilty verdicts on the firearms charges,confirms deep doubts in the community about the Crowns case,” said Mr Flavell.
We believe that totreatthis communityas terrorists; instigating an unprecedented raidinvolving up to three hundred police, andthen have the issue of terrorism down-graded to gun games in the bush signifies a huge error of judgment for the Crown and the NZ Police.
Whats worse, is the collateral damage on innocent families and the tribal nation of Tuhoe.
The Crown did itself no favours using illegal tactics and pushing this issue as a terrorist issue; hyping up the public fear through the actions taken.
“This decision offers no closure to Tuhoe. Our greatest hope is thatwe can all soon put this case behind us, and work to resolve the lingering hurt and resentment that this trial has drawn out:
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The paramount issue, is the use of United States military forces, similar to ‘Delta Force’ as was seen utilised in the Urewera campaign.
A whole re-working of ANZUS, if not a total elimination, would stop the suveillance of New Zealand citizens by the U.S. Government. I have my own personal case of witnessing moving spy satellites in
North Auckland skies, just last year (19 May, 25 May).
Who was the NZ Govt trying to impress with their own version of the imagined war on terror? What a big kiss-up! The more we stay away from the US and its tactics of agitation – the more peaceful our country will remain. We don’t need to? follow directives by a country that is famous for starting wars to enrich itself. Their system like ours is corrupt by any standard and perhaps we all should look internally and calling it the war on corruption. Then the real bad guys will be found.