Common threads in raid arrests
TVNZ
October 17, 2007
While most of those arrested after Monday’s anti-terrorism swoop have name suppression, ONE News can reveal that many are linked through common causes and associates.
Seventeen people are currently going through the courts following the arrests. One of those is Aucklander Jamie Lockett. A strong supporter of Maori Sovereignty, Lockett counts Iti, who has also been charged, as a friend and leader.
Iti, an often controversial figure, is well known for his support of Maori, and Tuhoe sovereignty.
“What we mean by a Tuhoe nation is we have total control and I know that the power to be are not going to give it to us. They are going to be strong and resistant on that,” Iti said in a video posted on YouTube.
One of Iti’s close relatives was also arrested and a clutch of his friends were taken into custody in the raids. Among them were two of his former Auckland flatmates.
One of the flatmates is an Auckland University student accused of firearms charges and possessing Molotov cocktails. He is also a member of the group Radical Youth which describes itself as an anti-capitalist and anti authoritarian youth movement.
The student is also associated with an anarchist’s collective.
Another of those arrested in the raids was a Bay of Plenty artist and friend of Iti’s who also supports anarchist causes and has spent time at one of the Wellington properties searched on Monday.
Anarchist supporters, members of a peace movement, and an anti-bypass group are among those arrested in Wellington.
A number share common environmental causes: three of them are working on a film project along with one of those arrested in Auckland, and two are related.
Some of those charged in Wellington and Auckland are involved in an independent media group that has been screening a documentary about Iti.
