Public will back Tiki Taane's arrest - police union

Tiki Taane. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Police Association president Greg O'Connor believes the officer who arrested entertainer Tiki Taane at a Tauranga nightclub for singing the rap anthem F*** the Police will have the public's backing.

But Green MP Keith Locke has defended the performer, saying he has the right to sing whatever he wants and the police were being "precious".

Mr O'Connor said he could not go into detail about the case in which Taane, 34, is to appear at the Tauranga District Court on Friday on a charge of disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence.

But he said that "any right-thinking New Zealander will understand and will be fully supportive of police actions" when the facts emerge.

"Cops are being attacked all over New Zealand and nothing happens in isolation, so I'm sure when New Zealanders get the full version and not the Keith Locke version they will fully understand."

He was responding to a blog by the Green MP which said the "Tauranga cops are being a bit precious here".

Mr Locke wrote that while he agreed the lyrics were anti-police with "lots of naughty words" the song was also a critically acclaimed work of art.

He said the right of expression - including the right to offend - was guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

"To suggest that Taane was intending to incite violence against the police by singing it when they were on the premises doing a standard inspection ... doesn't really cut it with me."

Taane said that "police definitely made their presence felt" at his early Sunday morning gig at the Illuminati nightclub.

Yesterday he told Newstalk ZB that he sang the first two lines of the song but could not understand the fuss.

It was played in clubs around the world all the time and on television and radio.

He had sung it "many, many times" without problems.

"It's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing but unfortunately I think a certain officer got a little bit upset and wanted to come back and prove a point, I guess, by arresting me and then walking me out in handcuffs in front of the audience, so I'm a bit bewildered by it."

Illuminati owner Glen Meikle described the incident as a "misunderstanding" after other patrons in the crowded bar began singing along with Taane.