Student protest turns violent after arrest

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Mon, 26 Sep 2011 6:07p.m. 9:17PM

After an arrest was made, the protesters blocked a police car from leaving Auckland University

After an arrest was made, the protesters blocked a police car from leaving Auckland University

The arrest of a protester turned a peaceful student protest against voluntary student union membership at Auckland University violent.

Students scuffled with police after one of them was arrested as they ended their sit-in protest at an Auckland University building.

About 300 students protesting against a bill making student union membership voluntary occupied the top floor of the Owen Glenn building, the home of the university's business school, for about four hours on Monday afternoon.

After police arrived in numbers, the group started to leave the building peacefully until one person was arrested, Auckland University Students Association president Joe McCrory said.

An altercation broke out with a lot of "pushing and jostling" between the students and police, he told NZN.

Between 150 and 200 people then marched down the street and protested outside the police station.

The students had dispersed by about 8pm, Mr McCrory said.

The students fear the voluntary membership will undermine independent representation on campus and put important student services at risk.

The group was also protesting student fee increases, and supporting staff in a dispute over pay and conditions, he said.

The protest started about 1pm with between 400 and 500 students in the University quad.

The union membership bill, a members bill introduced by Heather Roy of ACT, is due to have its third and final reading on Wednesday and is set to pass with National support.

Students also protested in Waikato and Otago Universities on Monday.

NZ Union of Student Associations co-president David Do said more protests, some with a rugby theme, would be staged in Wellington ahead of the vote in parliament.

NZN

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Comments

28 Sep 2011 10:37a.m.

Tane wrote:

@'Student' - yeah, everyone is wrong except for you (sarcasm). I saw the video, and like many other New Zealanders thought that the student protesters were a bunch of immature, attention seeking idiots. If you don't like it, go and get a job like everyone else. I went to Unit for four years and had to pay hundreds in association fees, I never used any services. As for that guy the police arrested, he wasn't even a student and had been trespassed from Auckland Uni two weeks earlier!

27 Sep 2011 10:30p.m.

Student wrote:

I find the coverage of the rally by this network absolutely ridiculous. And this is well reflected by the comments on these videos. It seem that everyone is completely ignorant as to why students need to rally. If fees continue rising tertiary education will simply not be viable option for anyone, at least not in New Zealand. As it stands students are the only part of society reliant on loans to live. The removal of automatic (NOT compulsary) enrolment will gut unions of their funding which is used for student welfare and advocacy. None of these videos or articles bother to mention the fact that while university fees rise courses are being cut, staff payments are being cut meanwhile the vice chancellor is getting a $40,000 payrise. The standard of education is this country is continually decreasing in favour of making money. National is only one step away from reintroducing interest onto student loans in order to pay for its taxcuts. Why exactly is it that our government is prioritising saving money for those are all ready rich at the cost of education and welfare? Furthermore this protest was peaceful until the police arrived, no one was harmed and no damage was done to any property, the uproar at the police was because after the police agreed to the let the students go without charge they singled out and arrested a protester. The fact is the polic should not have been there in the first instance, it was the same treatment that the lecturers recieved when they protested against declining working conditions. It seems that heavy handed force is the only the response the university can think of rather than rational discussion or, god forbid, actually listening to students. The media and the public are dreadfully uninformed and sadly this is typical of student issues, I expect that we will continue to be positioned as a violent mob in the media as we have been but I don't expect the media to effectively explain or support student causes in any significant way. We are the university, we have a right for a decent education that isn't motivated purely by commerce and we'll do what it takes to make it happen.

27 Sep 2011 09:47p.m.

x wrote:

This was not a waste of time nor resources...the student who got arrested did not even do anything and got arrested for no reason. The police had given their word that they wont arrest anyone ....what liars!

26 Sep 2011 11:22p.m.

greg wrote:

The police should have just run them over

26 Sep 2011 10:37p.m.

TheIntermediate wrote:

I was there for some of it. You didn't want to get pushed? Shouldn't have stood in front or in the way of a police officer. If you think standing in front of a car chanting "the whole world is watching" is going to have any effect at all then you are kidding yourself. Exesive force was not used and any saying that it was are just looking for attention. The students didn't lock them selves in? I'm sorry did you manage to not see the multiple chains around some of the doors to level 6? Those were put up by students. Also attempting to block access to the fire exits to staff. Your a joker mate. Waste of time and resources. Don't have a moan because the police were doing their job. Tough kid first years.

26 Sep 2011 10:34p.m.

Max wrote:

Looking forward to spending my money on booze instead of paying the union, unions are evil.

26 Sep 2011 10:30p.m.

LW wrote:

The great thing about the response of the security staff locking the electronic doors meant that all of the electronic doors were locked - meaning we were stuck unable to get out. I was stuck in the Library basement along with a lot of other people until someone decided to smash in the fire alarm and pull the switch (meaning the doors automatically unlocked)

26 Sep 2011 09:46p.m.

Serious student wrote:

Just saying, that guy holding the sign at 1.47min really needs to do STATS 101. And where the heck do these students find time to participate in mob mentality?

26 Sep 2011 09:02p.m.

Davo wrote:

@JD - Misguided? Believing that students will benefit most from voluntary union membership? The majority of students invariably gain from the services they invest in at various levels. It is essential for the welfare of all students. And students form the backbone of this country's economic future. That is, of course, if neoliberal economic policies don't send them to Australia. Which, of course, they will.

As for blung, most students end up working harder and earning more than you probably ever will. So it is wise to keep your misinformed, redneck diatribe to yourself. Idiot.

26 Sep 2011 08:31p.m.

civil eng student wrote:

JD I completely agree with you, I am very confused at these protests as I like having choice and would like to not be forced into joining anything. I'm very certain that Auckland uni is the only uni that does have voluntary student association membership, so it seems they are protesting a change that wont effect us anyway. I wouldn't want any of my fees going to a student association since I have never used ours and probably never will. As for the fees, I always knew they would be high and I intend to pay my student loan back, they are going up due to inflation but not by that much. I was lectured this morning by a protesting nut saying that the quality of our education is going down while the cost is going up, but the education I am getting is of very high quality