I was at the Freedom Village on Wednesday and this is my witness statement.
The fires were not started by the occupiers of the grounds who were still hoping to save something of their village, running from the push of cops coming down the library steps. What I did witness was hyped up people in black, many full of agro and f..k you-s, coming in from the left of Parliament.
THESE people had NOT been on the lines of the defenders. I witnessed tent poles and more being chucked on the fires. They were NOT protesters.
Someone with a white smiling mask pushed past me in Molesworth Street and headed over. There was confusion among us as to whether it was a generator or BBQ that started the fire. We kept hearing explosions and bursts of flames. We thought they were gas bottles.
The cops were there. Standing back from those feeding the flames. I did hear agonising screams from over by the tents near the moving wave of cops destroying the village. It sounded like a kid or kids. I have since heard of a child in hospital fighting for life but I cannot verify the accuracy of that.
I don’t think the cops started the fire. But they didn’t stop it.
The water cannons, now where did they come from? They were only started up, well after the village was already burning, to save the tree.
Earlier in Molesworth Street I was helping prevent projectiles from being thrown at the line of riot gear bearing down on us. I witnessed a person in a mask race out of the side street and dump a recycling bin full of bottles on the ground. A tall young man in a tan jacket saw it too, raced over and ran away down the street with it. A disaster was averted. I would like to hug him.
I witnessed SO MANY people with pepper spray in their eyes on the ground. I witnessed young men in absolute agony, writhing, crying, women too. I saw people ready with milk and support. This is New Zealand?
The line of cops pushed us down the street. The second line of cops sprayed us as we held the line.
Three rows in front of the cops I was covered in pepper spray. Not my eyes. Someone had handed out visors. Bless them. Unarmed ordinary people against that lot? I ran when the line broke.
The push didn’t happen until the afternoon. We witnessed the new loos being pulled up and dragged away. We witnessed the village being literally torn apart and dumped on trucks by people in yellow and blue wearing masks.
There were so MANY MANY people in yellow and blue. They had no hats, no numbers. They wouldn’t speak. There were so many YOUNG people standing there in masks alongside the older cops. Do they know what they have got themselves into?
I witnessed another phalanx come down towards police lines. Then a second one. In black, full riot gear, no badges or numbers, no identifying marks, menacing and scary.
The blue and yellow ones let them through to near the front and by then I was down there holding the line. People were checking that I was alright. Such amazing nonviolent New Zealanders. We held them, but when the line was breaking we moved away.
There was no way we could have won. Once they brought all those cops in, this village was finished. I still can’t believe it.
I witnessed some of the black ones on Parliament grounds. Pushing people. I saw people running out of the grounds saying they heard firing. Were these black cops the UN mercenaries said to have been brought to New Zealand?
I didn’t see everything, but I know that that THIS is true. This was not a joke. I was there, I was a witness.
