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Anglican Maori incensed by police tactics in the Bay of Plenty terrorism raids are calling on the Government and police to apologise to Tuhoe and Ruatoki people.
A meeting of the Maori stream of the Anglican Church in Christchurch has condemned last month's raids, likening them to early 20th century attempts to assimilate Maori with European colonists.
Archbishop Brown Turei, Anglican primate and Te Pihopa o Aotearoa - head of the church's Maori stream - told delegates: "This is Pharaoh and the Hebrews in Egypt all over again. Acts of suppression are the instruments of the powerful to bring the people in line with an acceptable system.
"Moses said: 'Let my people go.' Maybe we can say: 'Leave our people alone'," he said.
Archbishop Turei likened the Terrorism Suppression Act - the basis of the raids in which 17 people were arrested and charged with firearms offences - to the 1907 Tohunga Suppression Act, which he said was "one of the chief legal instruments for the attempted assimilation of Maori during the early part of the 20th century".
The weekend runanganui, or parliament, of Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa passed a resolution expressing shock at the Ruatoki raids and concern for the "trauma, fear, terror and humiliation experienced by the Tuhoe people".
It called on the Government and police to apologise to Tuhoe and the people of Ruatoki in particular and asked Police Commissioner Howard Broad to involve the Maori Police Advisory Group and iwi liaison officers "at all levels of police operations, not just on selective occasions".
The resolution said Anglican Maori were worried by the use of anti-terrorism legislation in the arrests.
"Maori have a history of opposing policies and programmes implemented by the Government," it said, noting that the new legislation could mean protest leaders might expect the same kind of treatment.
The resolution was moved by the Rev Jim Biddle, head of the Anglican theological college at Rotorua, and seconded by the Rev Awanui Timutimu, who lives at Ruatoki and was caught up in the raids.
He said he was stopped at a roadblock by "armed, helmeted, black-clad paramilitary police" who were questioning drivers and searching all vehicles leaving Ruatoki.
He was ordered out of his car while police searched it and photographed him beside his car's registration plate before sending him on his way.
* NAME SUPPRESSION LIFTED FOR PAIR
Two people charged with firearms offences after last month's police raids have lost their court bid to have their names kept secret.
Whiri Andrew Kemara, 38, and Tuhoi Francis Lambert, 58, had tried to maintain an earlier court suppression order by seeking a Court of Appeal ruling.
However, the court ruled there were no grounds to hear the case after an earlier application for name suppression was rejected by both the District and High Courts.
Kemara faces eight charges of possessing firearms and molotov cocktails. Lambert faces four of the same charges.
- NZPA
