KEY POINTS:
Police say a busload of kohanga reo children was not stopped and searched by armed police as part of their anti-terror operation in the Bay of Plenty last week.
A hikoi on Friday of up to 1000 people, marched through Whakatane protesting claims of heavy-handedness by the police during last Monday's raids.
Bus driver Isaac Nuku said his Ruatoki kohanga reo bus was stopped at a road block and a child under five years was on the bus when armed police searched it.
Today Police National Headquarters said a school bus load of children was not stopped and searched by armed police.
A school bus with children on board was escorted through the cordon without boarding or searching it at the request and in the company of the school principal from Ruatoki.
However, a 33-seater kohanga reo bus - without any school bus signs - on its way to Whakatane was stopped and searched.
It was carrying a bus driver, a woman monitor and a 14-year-old girl who was being taken to High School. No kohanga reo pupils were aboard, police said.
The occupants were photographed before they were cleared to continue their journey.
"There has been some unfortunate public comment around the matter of school buses and the exposure of children to armed police in the context of last week's operation," assistant commissioner Jon White said today.
"Police were conducting an operation which involved the arrest of people known to have and use firearms and other weapons, and the execution of search warrants looking for those and other items."
Mr White said police were acting in good faith and doing the jobs required of them.
The checkpoint was in place for the minimum period necessary, and consideration was given to the effect of the operation on children in that the school bus which clearly had children on board was facilitated through the checkpoint without a search, he said.
He assured the occupants of the bus that was searched that their photographs had been destroyed.
Maori MP Te Ururoa Flavell today asked Education Minister Steve Maharey to "tell the truth" about assertions from the community that armed police had boarded a kohanga reo bus with children aboard.
"It is somewhat ironic that the humble bus, which transports our tamariki to kohanga reo and kura kaupapa has become a key player in the raids made against Tuhoe over the last week," Mr Flavell said.
Seventeen people were arrested after the raids and were charged with firearms offences for allegedly attending military style training camps.
- NZPA
