A day after the charges against Tiki Tane were amicably resolved, many of those charged after the Urewera raids of 15 October 2007, also found themselves free from further Police persecution… with a few notable exceptions; Tama Iti is still facing firearms charges despite them being weak and the continued backtracking making the crowns case look like a sick joke!What is clear after millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent is that the initial raids were completely unjustified and the Police have simply wasted time playing repress the natives instead of catching real criminals.
Tim Selwyn over at Tumeke writes:
The Police and Crown prosecutors were all hyped up from chasing their own shadows, preparing for a terrorist show trial in Auckland. A mass trial the likes we had never seen before. It was all a police fantasy fueled by their own prejudices, hazy intel from hazy narks, endless hours of inconclusive stoner ravings in sheds that were bugged, and the spectacular scope and cost the operation had generating its own pressure for a visible return. In this light perhaps 'Operation 8' refers to an $8 million budget?The international furore surrounding terrorism and a fear response an obvious incentive behind the heavy handedness and continued violation of peoples rights. This is not justice, it’s abuse of power based on ignorance and ulterior motives. For there to be no apology for that is a travesty.
This sort of crap must end. The flagrant abuse of our democracy by those who have a constitutional duty to uphold the law and not pervert the course of justice is unacceptable! When the powers that be rewrite regulations to specifically target law-abiding citizens, we no longer have a democracy, we have a dictatorship, which is ultimately detrimental to society.
The fact that the Crown is slightly waking up to the smell of their own bullshit doesn't absolve the fact that there’s been a continued abuse of New Zealand's laws by those who are meant to uphold them. The early morning inquisitions to determine whether protests will occur around the RWC, yet another fear response with zero credible evidence to support such a waste of Police time and resources. Let us not forget the continued persecution of the Waihopai three at the cost of millions without any reasonable expectation to return a single red cent.
I'm all for accountability when it's warranted, but I happen to think that accountability applies to those in positions of power as well.
After all of this it seems reasonable to assume that the law is an ass, ridden roughshod into the distance where democracy and "justice" is but a dream.
