Council rejects Hells Angels submissions

A proposed gang patch bylaw was unanimously passed through a Wanganui District Council sub-committee meeting today and a group opposing it copped criticism from the city's mayor.

The council is expected to pass the final stage of the bylaw on August 31, with the law coming into force on September 1.

Under the bylaw, people wearing a gang patch in Wanganui could be fined $2000 and the patch confiscated.

The subcommittee, comprising Mayor Michael Laws and councillors Randhir Dahya and Rana Waitai, considered 14 submissions today, including some from the Hells Angels, who claim they are not a gang.

Hells Angels members and their lawyer Steve Rollo have argued they should be excluded from the bylaw because they were a club.

Wanganui Hells Angels president Wayne Tweeddale read a statement to the subcommittee, saying the gang patch ban was a "crazy idea", but he refused to answer questions.

Sub-committee chairman Mr Laws said individual Hells Angels submittors had either not turned up, or refused to answer the committee's questions, which was disappointing.

"Their basic thesis was that the Hells Angels motorcycle club isn't a criminal gang but they blew a big opportunity today to explain their reasoning and the way they operate.

"I wanted to ask the members as to their criminal associations and convictions but that now is obviously a moot point."

Parliament and New Zealand police had determined the Hells Angels were a gang, Mr Laws said.

"Our bylaw simply demarcates the boundaries where gang patches, gang colours and gang insignia will be banned."

- NZPA