Violent clashes an integral part of New Zealand’s history – Stuff

Opinion: The Prime Ministers comments that the protest occupation of parliament was unprecedented and not the way we do things shows an ignorance of history.

The image of our country as long unified and harmonious is far from the truth, you only have to look back on our long list of violent confrontations which go back centuries.

Tribal wars graduated into Land Wars, and its been every few years since that our country hasnt witnessed some sort of ground-shaping strike, lockout, occupation or full scale riot which escalated to violence.

And every time the government of the day has come out punching, claiming the mob and rabble have all been inspired by criminal elements, communists, or overtaken by imported ideologies.

READ MORE:* Politicians call for 'accountability' in wake of riot, but from where and from who?* Flashback: US wartime invasion had racist side* Battle of Manners St: US wartime invasion had racist side

One of our most destructive riots was the Queen Street Depression Riots of April 1932, where shop windows all along Aucklands main shopping street were all smashed in by a berserk crowd of thousands.

The mood in New Zealand leading up was ugly, with huge sections of the population stricken by unemployment and poverty brought on by the Great Depression.

Hundreds got injured in the fighting, and when the police got hemmed in near the Town Hall, looters ran through Queen St smashing windows and raiding jewellery stores and any other shop worth pillaging.

ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY/Stuff

Union marchers clash with police at the intersection of Cuba Street and Dixon Street, Wellington, taken May 3, 1951 during the Waterfront Strike.

Only marching sailors presenting fixed bayonets around the city streets managed to quell the riot that evening, but the following day it was Karangahape Rds turn to get all its windows smashed in. Only mounted Specials repeatedly charging into the crowds and smashing in heads with long truncheons managed to finally disperse the so-called mob.

The following month of that angry autumn, it was Wellingtons turn, the ugly mob angrily protesting in front of parliament before rampaging down Lambton Quay where they smashed every window they could.

Despite the government of the day saying the riots were caused by a small communist-inspired element, the big Inquiry that followed explained the dissatisfaction in society at the time as stemming from high unemployment (it noted the majority of rioters were New Zealand-born), the skilled new arrivals which had taken their jobs, and the increasing number of women who were entering the workforce.

A report in the New York Times, written by their reporter who happened to be visiting at the time, gave some idea of the tension which pervaded at the time; It was hard to estimate how far New Zealand came to open rebellion at this time, but one thing is patently clear, the tenseness of the situation was foremost in the minds of government officials.

Des Woods/Stuff

Soldiers from Burnham Military Camp erect barbed wire fencing at the Lancaster Park South ground in preparation for the rugby test against the Springboks on Saturday. August 13, 1981.

Causes of riots where people vent their frustrations can be many and varied.

The Springbok Tour made us examine our ties to an apartheid regime. Another full scale street battle was the 1943 Battle of Manners St, when hundreds and hundreds of US and NZ servicemen and civilians slugged it out in downtown Wellington over the night of April 3, a time when some 25,000 US troops were stationed in this country.

Right from the start, it was a classic clash of culture, many Kiwis grating the governments decision to allow such huge number of US servicemen to be stationed here. New Zealand men referred to their US counterparts as bedroom commandos, which wasnt far wrong at least 1500 Kiwi women ended up marrying US servicemen from that time.

The big brawl started when racist southern state US servicemen objected to Maori serviceman coming into the Allied Services Bar. Set on by both New Zealand troops and civilians alike, nearly all of whom were Pakeha, the brawl escalated to take over the entire street with over 500 involved in hard out combat.

Two American servicemen were reportedly killed, with scores seriously injured on both sides.

Once again, the government made sure it hardly got reported, the fatalities released as unconfirmed. The issue of US troops here was sensitive, and got people riled up, even if they were supposed to protecting us.

FAIRFAX NZ/Stuff

Maori Warden Hine Grindlay holds hands with a peace group as she tries to stop the 1984 Queen St Riot.

Another notable civil disturbance involving thousands of rioters was the Queen St riots of December 1984, which erupted out of the DD Smash and Herbs concert Thank God its Over! celebrating the end of the academic year.

After Herbs performed, and lead act DD Smash were coming on, the power went out. The 10, 000-strong crowd grew agitated as they waited and waited for the problem to be fixed, throwing things at the policemen who slowly but surely had surrounded the crowd.

Soon after DD Smash lead singer Dave Dobbyn called out I wish those riot squad guys would stop w**king and put their short batons away, the concert promoters came on to say the concert was cancelled at the request of the police. Thats when the place just exploded, the resulting rampage down Queen St causing millions of dollars of property damage, upturned cars, broken bottles and rubbish everywhere.

Since that event, police learnt that their straight in strong arm approach did not necessarily work with crowds capable of exponentially escalating their uncivil behaviour.

Once again back then, the government blamed it a small fringe criminal element working to their own agenda, with nothing to do with police brutality or tactics.

One man who patently understood the just-under-the-surface disaffectedness of New Zealanders was then Labour Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer. Back in 1990, he introduced his Bill of Rights Act in Parliament as a safeguard to protect New Zealanders against the unbridled power of future governments, at the time saying; It is unlikely that there will be a wholesale disregard of human rights in New Zealand in the foreseeable future, but we cannot afford to wait until rights disappear before we take action, because it will be too late by that stage.

It could be argued that with these latest protests there is again a high level of dissatisfaction, especially in the provinces, a time when people have an underlying sense of being not listened to.

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

Protesters spray police with fire extinguishers during the Parliament riot last month.

We may have survived the first stage of the pandemic reasonably unscathed, but who couldnt but note the government-inspired vilification of anyone who has dared to disagree with the mandates.

And if thew Government hasnt noticed, things have been simmering in the so-called team of five million.

The skint poor have been watching the rich get richer, struggling businesses have all but been wiped out by mandates, skilled people losing their jobs to them, expat Kiwis facing the near-impossible MIQ lottery to come home, families forced to accept their old people dying alone, the groundswell of aggrieved farmers fed up with everything from diesel king cab tax to never ending compliance issues, 1080 depriving families of clean game, even shore netters sore they are not allowed to set their nets anymore.

All of these restrictions imposed without any meaningful consultation. Exactly the way Three Waters and local democracy reforms are being foisted on us.

For the Government to claim the latest protests have gone beyond the pale advocating executions of politicians is pure bunkin. Look what happened outside the Auckland Town Hall on Bastille Day (July 14) 2012, when 10 city blocks of protestors (mobilised by Aotearoa Not for Sale) turned up to see the guillotining of an effigy of PM John Key. Believe it or not, this sort of thing happens all the time when people get angry.

Its time the Government came off its high-horse and started a dialogue with all the factions of the disaffected. Labelling them ferals and a river of filth is nothing short of an epic fail and does not address the real problems bubbling away under the surface.

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Violent clashes an integral part of New Zealand's history - Stuff