Former Dunedin mayor stopped from entering New World supermarket with Palestinian flag

Former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins said New World need to be clear on what their expectations are after asking him to leave his Palestinian flag at customer service while shopping with his eight-year-old son. Photo / Instagram

Former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins has spoken out after claiming he and his eight-year-old son were barred from the Centre City New World supermarket for carrying a Palestinian flag.

However, a spokesperson for Foodstuff’s says Hawkins was not barred and is welcome to return.

Hawkins said that when he and his son arrived at the store following a rally in the Dunedin Octagon, they were stopped from going inside because he was carrying the rolled-up flag he had displayed at an earlier demonstration.

“I’ve been refused entry to plenty of bars in my time but never to a supermarket,” Hawkins wrote on social media.

Hundreds of Dunedin protestors gathered in Dunedin to call for a ceasefire in Palestine in. Photo / Ben Tomsett

“When I asked why, the staff member just said they didn’t want to cause a scene.”

When pressed for more details, the staff member told him there were concerns over staff intimidation, he said.

“I was shopping with my eight-year-old son. What did they think we were going to do?”

New World has offered a different version of the encounter.

“Following a rally in the nearby Octagon, a person was entering the store carrying a flag. One of our team members kindly requested that they leave the flag at customer services and the individual chose to leave instead,” a spokesperson said.

“It’s important to note they were not barred from entering and they are welcome to return.”

The spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding what items are specifically prohibited from New World.

Hawkins said he chose not to leave the flag behind at customer service, because in doing that it would have meant “accepting that the response was reasonable”.

“I don’t believe it was,” he said.

He questioned whether the issue was really about the particular flag.

“Otherwise, they would have just said, ‘We don’t allow flags in our supermarket.’”

He also raised concerns about the inconsistency of the policy, asking if large objects like skateboards and umbrellas would face similar scrutiny.

“I want to be clear, I have no time for activism that targets, harasses, or intimidates service workers. That’s not my style. But if that has happened, those instances can be dealt with as and when they arise,” he wrote in his original post.

“This level of blanket censorship – including of families just shopping for dinner – feels like a disproportionate response.”

He said it was good to know he was welcome back and was prepared to give New World the benefit of the doubt and “accept that this has been handled clumsily”.

“I still think they need to be clear with our community as to what their expectations are.”

Rallies for Palestine have taken place across New Zealand regularly amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians and displaced more than 1.9 million others, according to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

It’s estimated some 16,000 children are among the dead.

The Israel-Hamas war, ignited by a Hamas attack on October 7, has escalated into one of the deadliest conflicts this century, according to the United Nations.

Ben Tomsett is a Multimedia Journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Dunedin.

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