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During the 1981 Springbok Tour Protests - Coggle Diagram
During the 1981 Springbok Tour Protests
Gisborne
Important Event for this game
First game of the tour
Bigger protest then expected
Were greeted by Maori council, the president then denied any further performances for the Springbok tour. Sir Graeme Latimer
The decisions that were made
What was learned by each group
Police used barriers and other blockades against the protesters
Very conservative and tradtional Maori council, this was a large deal, drawing the line and saying no.
Shocked people, this was not expected
People saw barricades for the first time, this was a physical change in the sporting world of New Zealand. The barricades were associated with the tour.
People from all Walks of life came together to protest. Different age groups, ethnicities, backgrounds and jobs all came together to protest against the tour.
Auckland airport
The moment they touched down, protestors were their to try and stop the plane from landing.
Were open to breaking the law and did so. Shows how serious protesters were about making a change
Hamilton
Preparing and training, five days in advance for the Rugby game. Knowing how far protests would go.
Planned extremely well, protestors bought tickets and placed themselves within the crowd strategically, letting the protestors pull down the fence and ran through the rugby watchers, and onto the field. 300 people onto the field.
The game was called off. Which resulted in the rugby supporters being furious and attacking the protestors.
Division in New Zealand Police. Old school vs Red Sqaud
New Zealand public not prepared to see police use violence
The police then had to protect 300 protestors, from 30,000 rugby fans who were furious.
After getting the protesters out of the stadium, outside was just as chaotic as inside
Mayhem and violence on the streets of Hamilton
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Bob Walton aware of a threat which was Pat Mcquarrie flying the plane into the stand
Mass amounts of violence between protestors and rugby fans broke out. Protestors felt victorious due to having the game called off. The police had failed to break up violence and many people were injured.
Anti - tour protestors practised the way they were going to act the way they did. Act dead, link arms, stay strong. This was unexpected. Ordinary New Zealanders
Assigned tasks to different people
Some had cutters some were in crowds to combat what had gone wrong in Gisborne
The first live showing of the game - The country would see how strong people were for their sides
Seen Internationally
If they could be disruptive enough to cancel the game, to show they can get a response by the government to cancel the tour.
A strategy to help their overall goal
To Cancel the tour
Imporant Events for this game
Attempted to do this in Gisbourne but were stopped by Rugby Supporters
Molesworth street
Police attempt to regain control
Violence by the police. Used the new style battons
Police believed they acted in self defence while the protesters felt that the police didn't inform them well enough of what they wanted
Protesters began at 5pm walking towards the beehive in Wellington and were confronted by police. Police were prepared to stop protesters but were not ready for the reaction protesters here.
They were told to stay 100 meters away but recounts by the protesters state that many of them were not even aware.
This led to police men thinking the protesters were not complying and they had to go to their last resort.
The police force began beating protestors with batons causing wide outrage and anger from the protesters. There also was a lot of shock from the crowd
Christchurch
Contest between anti-tour and police
Both sides were adapting to what they had learned in previous confrontations
Police: To keep rugby supporters separated from anti-tour protesters
Police were likely to be more, aggressive, forceful. Some officers were said to use 'excessive force'
Police were more commonly using long batons to push the protesters back and stop them from coming too close
Anti-tour: Split groups of protesters to divide and weaken police. They wore increased protective gear
Wore Bike helmets, Mouth guards, body protection. Shows they were prepared for violence and had learned from the past protests.
They used protective gear as they expected the police and rugby supporters to be confrontational and violent
Increasing illegal acts / people more likely to break the law. Destroyed the turf of other sporting zones. Burned down the rugby grounds of smaller locations.
The mood became uglier, it wasn't dying down as more and more people got hurt and injured
Formations
Protesters used formations to make sure that the people at higher risk of getting hurt had the appropriate defences.
Red and Blue Squad led police as the more experienced in riots/protests. They were equipped with stronger protection and longer batons.
Significance
Police were becoming tired from the continuous protesting and fighting
Caused an increase in excessive force used by police because of poor decision making
All the funds of the police were diverted to the tour protests resulting in a decrease in nationwide police response to regular crimes.
Impacted the ability for them to do their job
Wellington
Christchurch was incredibly tense resulting in a different mood in Wellington
No real confrontation between anti-tour and rugby supporters
The government was failing the country and had to put pressure on the ministry of police
Rugby supporters viewed police as failing to do their job
Police viewed the protesters as criminals and that they were so likely to commit a crime
Anti-tour blocked the 2 main roads going into wellington. Stopped the motorways and train stations
Were willing to shut down a large city to get their message across.
Used cars and trucks in the early morning to park in the motorway to prevent traffic flow
Traffic built up and stopped the police from accessing the site along with more traffic from either side entering or leaving Wellington central
Fence-posts on the train tracks and damaging the rail-way crossings blocked the train system for a certain time
Special defences were used to help solve the motorway problems and train stations leaving less forces available for the city center
Auckland
Final test, last game
Largest city in New Zealand and the largest location of Maori and Pacifica community
Main location of HART and other organisations
Marx Jones dropping the Flour Bombs during the game. Gave the audience reminders of the Hamilton game in which the game was cancelled because of the risk of a terrorist attack of the plane
Aim to send a clear message of sporting contact with South Africa towards, the Rugby Union and the public of New Zealand
Rising tensions between police and protesters outside of the stadium while the game was going on
The clown incident, where 4 university students were dressed up as clowns and a result of excessive force by police lead to 3 of them hospitalised
A formal complaint was made towards the police investigation authority to find out who the officers were
No-one was charged which later came out as a lie by Ross Meurant (Red squad leader) who did not identify the officers
This lead to the distruction of the police complaint authority which turned to an independent complaint authority which worked separately from the police
The New Zealand public no longer trusted the police. The police even acknowledged themselves that they lost the trust of the public
A large fight between the police and protesters. Most rugby supporters were still inside the grounds of Eden park
The streets outside of Eden park were drastically destroyed afterwards. The police were extremely outnumbered to protesters
Court
HART and anti-tour flooded the justice system post tour with many many court hearings having to take place.
Police were called to hearings as witnesses, taking them out of doing their job for longer
Caused a decrease in their crime response and were less likely to be available for common crimes