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P.C. 31 said 'We've caught a dirty one.'

I went to Albert Park as one of a number of demonstrators who were assembling to meet Agnew when he arrived at the Hotel Intercontinental for his talks in Auckland. At about 5.50 we moved off towards the Hotel. The street had been chained off to prevent demonstrators from advancing too close to the Hotel. We were permitted to go onto the street area. People assembled right around the Hotel to the streetward side of the chain. There was a limited amount of chanting and the demonstration seemed to be fairly peaceful. Around 6 or 7 o'clock the police arrested somebody for something—I'm not certain what it was—and hauled him away to a police car. Anyway, a group of demonstrators followed the policemen to ask them why this chap had been arrested.

How many people were in the group?

There must have been about 20 or 30 who actually followed.

Who were they?

No one in particular. I noticed students among them, some members of the Progressive Youth Movement, and even one or two people from the Council on Vietnam; although they were holding their own vigil to one side and weren't actually participating in this particular demonstration which was called by the PYM. Anyhow, the policemen refused to say why this chap had been arrested and dragged him to a police van. The 20 or so demonstrators who followed stood around the van and the police asked them to move away. Some of them did but not very quickly because the crowd was more or less forcing them onto the police van. Anyway, the person driving started the van and suddenly drove forward. Someone was struck and thrown onto the road. This was the first evidence of violence.

Another incident occurred when a student teacher I know was grabbed by two policemen and sort of hauled into the air. She was taken off towards what I imagined to be a police car, but I didn't see. I don't know what she had done but the policemen seemed to be using undue force. She wasn't a very big person.

Was the struggling?

She was struggling, yes. Apart from that there were one or two other arrests during the evening, but on the whole the demonstrators were fairly peaceful.

Was that the end of that particular demonstration?

That demonstration carried on into the night, though people started to go away at about 8 or 9 o'clock. However the Council on Vietnam held a late night vigil outside the Hotel. A second demonstration was called by the Council for Friday. Actually, the Council on Vietnam dissociated itself from the PYM for the period of this demonstration because of the adverse publicity the PYM had received during the past year.

How many people took part in the second demonstration?

It must have been upwards of a thousand. They moved off from the Town Hall at about 7 o'clock.

In what form?

In groups of four, marching down the road which had been blocked off for this purpose.

And was the march orderly?

It was an extremely disciplined march. There was no chanting whatsoever.

Were there any banners?

Yes, there were a great number which were brought along by members of the Council on Vietnam.

What were the police doing?

The police were in rows standing six deep outside the Hotel.

How many policemen were there?

Over a hundred I'd imagine. There were also a couple of Traffic Officers on the street directing people towards the footpath.

Something which particularly interested me about the police, and several other people also commented on it, was that they were in evidence right the way down on the inside of the fence bounding the University grounds, where the old Government House is. The day before, when demonstrators had gone into Government House grounds in order to get a view of the Hotel, they were actually stopped by police and asked to leave. A lot of these demonstrators were students. It was a case of students on the University grounds being asked to leave their own grounds.

The grounds were more or less cleared by the police and I think a complaint was made by the President of the Students' Association to the Vice-Chancellor. It was promised that police wouldn't be permitted to clear the grounds again, but if this was true the police acted in defiance of it on the Thursday night when one person, although he wasn't a student, was arrested and charged with wilful trespass for being in the grounds. A number of students were also cleared out.

On Friday night several University lecturers were in the grounds with their families and joined in the demonstration. They came up through the University to this particular area of the University grounds. The police on this occasion made no attempt to stop the demonstrators although they were standing right along the fence palings with their arms interlocked.

Was there a fence between them and the demonstrators?

Yes, there was—I don't know why . . . there was no undue violence at this stage.

What time did this demonstration finish?

The actual demonstration called by the Council on Vietnam officially ended at 8.15. However, a large number of people decided that they would keep an all night vigil similar to the one which had been held the night before.

There were no incidents at this stage?

No. But there were several after 8 o'clock. On one occasion the police suddenly charged into the demonstrators.

Exactly what happened?

The police were standing there in their rows. All I saw was a sudden movement by a number of policemen who ran into the demonstrators.

Ran?

They ran—or charged. They were certainly doing more than walking fast . . . Somebody must have done something, I don't know what . . . Somebody was dragged out and taken away.

Did the demonstrators provoke the police?

I don't think so. The police just went and grabbed this chap from the crowd.

Did the person resist?

I don't think so. I can't say because I wasn't involved. The demonstrators naturally pushed around to see what was happening and so more police were sent in.

What happened then?

This chap was taken out onto the street and around the Hotel. Then at about 9 o'clock a couple of borer bombs were let off in the crowd.

What effect did they have?

They let off large quantities of very acrid smoke. They're not particularly dangerous. They're not even unpleasant really, and the effects are purely temporary.

Who let them off?

I don't know. One of the demonstrators I imagine. I don't know why. It didn't achieve anything. I hardly think that it could have been considered a provocation to the police because it wasn't thrown into the police ranks. It went off in the crowd. I think it was just one of those livening-up things.

Was anybody alarmed?

No, I don't think so.

What else happened?

Well, there had been some chanting.

What were the demonstrators doing after the bombs were let off?

The demonstrators just stood behind the chains. One or two people were actually sitting on the chains. A couple of people were sitting on the Hotel side of the footpath with placards in their hands. Another group was chanting anti-U.S. slogans.

What happened then?

This more or less continued throughout the evening. About 10 people were arrested during the course of the evening.

Were any people in the crowd drunk?

Certainly not; not that I noticed. Anyway, but 10 o'clock the demonstration had thinned considerably. There were probably only two or three hundred people left and most of these were sitting on the sidewalk. The crowd generally was very inactive at this stage.

One chap was sitting there doing nothing whatsoever as far as I could see when a policeman walked up to him and said, "I saw you doing something wrong the other evening." And then he said, "I'm arresting you." The other demonstrators stood up at this stage and started chanting. They said it was grossly unfair and wanted to know why he had been arrested. The police just pushed everybody back.

I left the demonstration then. I arrived back at about 11 o'clock but nothing much was happening. I was about to leave again when I noticed the police moving up to the crowd. Suddenly, they marched into the crowd, pushing and shoving at they went. They didn't say anything that I heard, though one or two people later said that they had been approached and asked if they would leave the demonstration.

Did you see any evidence of plainclothes or security police?

I'm afraid I am unable to say. I was told that there were security policemen or people in plain clothes who congregated behind the police ring. Someone said they were repeatedly coming out from their ranks and seizing placards from demonstrators in the crowd. They then took the placards behind the police ranks and smashed them up.

And the police? They just marched into the crowd?

Yes. They just started pushing in and shoving people; they were walking very briskly at this stage up Waterloo Quadrant.

How many policemen?

A fairly large number. I don't know how many—it was dark—but I'd say there were more than 30. They marched up and started pushing people around—fairly violently.

What do you mean by "fairly violently"?

Well, people were being pushed to the ground. It was certainly unnecessary under the circumstances. A lot of people went back to ask the police why they were being asked to leave. The police just shoved people to the ground rather than answer them. I noticed one policeman say "Now come along, come along" and then he gave this particular chap, who was a middle-aged man, a hard push in the direction of Princes Street. I noticed one chap who asked why he had to leave being kneed in the behind.

Why did the policeman do this?

I don't know. All I saw was a man who had been standing there going up to a policeman who took him by the shoulder, swivelled him around, kneed him in the backside and pushed him up Princes Street. Then two policemen came up to me and told me to get out. I said "I don't see why I should have to leave. What exactly is going on?" I was then taken by the arm and thrown into the fence.

What happened then?

Well, after that I took off with the rest of the demonstrators towards Albert Park. It seemed that this action by the police was totally unnecessary. It was organised because all of the police moved in together. The police followed us along Princes Street and cruised around the Park, where we were gathered. They were generally very rough. I saw innumerable instances of what was, in fact, assault on demonstrators by the police. One chap was actually kneed. I saw two or three people pushed to the ground by the police, and a lot of people simply shoved along. What I did notice very definitely was that when people went up to a policeman and asked what was going on and why they were being asked to move on, the police just shoved them out of the way. Technically, this was assault. I didn't hear any instruction at any stage that we were to leave Waterloo Quay. I am sure that if the police had simply got up and said, "Would you mind leaving now" a number of people would have moved off. All they needed to do was to station two or three policemen around the Hotel—if they thought safety was threatened in any way, and I'm sure it wasn't—and simply leave the people to stand out there. The night before there had been an all night vigil and there seemed to be no reason why these people couldn't remain there on Friday night.

And that was the end of the evening?

For me it was, yes. I went through Albert Park and went home immediately. I was shocked at what had happened. A lot of people there were shocked too because the police hadn't been provoked at all on this occasion.