Day 2 - Noisy protest at NZDIA dinner - 2 arrests

The NZDIA award dinner, which in previous took place at the Duxton Hotel, was held at Te Papa this time. Around 40 activists marched to Te Papa at 6.15pm. There were around 40 cops at Te Papa and the barricades were all still up. We were chanting and yelling at delegates who walked into the museum for their dinner. The barricaded turned out to be great to jump on and making heaps of noise! There were a few minor scuffles with police and security guards who pushed us back and local village idiot Nic Miller (a Nazi from Lower Hutt) took some photos.

We decided to leave at around 6:45 and as we started walking the cops jumped onto one protester and arrested him and the person standing next to him. They were both dragged to the paddy wagon. One was charged with stealing a cop hat the previous day and the other with obstruction. They were both released later that evening.

After the arrests we ran around to the back and made more noise. Peace Movement Aotearoa then presented the recipients of the 2006 D.I.C.K (Destructive Industry Connected to Killing) NZ Awards and the 'Guided Missiles and Misguided Men' Awards for Government Politicians. The 2006 Supreme D.I.C.K NZ Award went to Rakon Ltd, with Right Hemisphere and Apex Global Healthcare / Apex Distribution Ltd each receiving a D.I.C.K NZ Award. Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, Minister of Defence and Minister of Trade Phil Goff, Prime Minister Helen Clark, and Minister of Economic Development and Minister for Industry and Regional Development Trevor Mallard each received a 'Guided Missiles and Misguided Men' Award.

We then left as a group after a noisy protest and no further arrests were made.

Photos by Stephen Mackay

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