Hamiltonians come out in force against spy bill
More than 300 Hamiltonians protested in Garden Place in an attempt to pressure MPs to vote against the proposed GCSB legislation.
More than 300 people turned out to protest at Garden Place, Hamilton against the proposed GCSB spy legislation on Saturday, an attempt to pressure politicians to vote against it.
Organiser Max Dillon Coyle said he was pleased with the turnout.
He was the national coordinator for the protests across New Zealand and MC of the Hamilton protest.
“Very happy with the turnout. For once the Facebook attending numbers actually reflected the turnout, 370 plus, although it has been reported we had 500 people at its peak,” he said yesterday.
“It takes a lot for people to come out publicly to a protest and spend part of their weekend standing up for their rights, and yesterday showed hundreds of Hamiltonians were worried enough about these bills to come out to make a stand.”
The bill, which is being passed under urgency, will expand the GCSB’s ability to monitor New Zealanders.
Protester Roger Smith, 23, said: “I just think this bill is a gross injustice to human rights.”
Smith’s sign highlighted that MP Peter Dunne holds the single vote needed to pass the legislation into law.
“I mean your information could be used out of context, private information could be used to discredit political opponents,” he said.
“Even if it’s passed we’ll keep protesting to have it removed.”
Anjum Rahman is running for the city council in the Hamilton East ward and was a speaker at the event.
“We require safeguards to ensure the government doesn’t misuse these powers against individuals,” she said.
“Particularly with the GCSB and SIS because they are operating under such levels of secrecy, such a lack of transparency, those safeguards have to be stronger than ever.”
The Hamilton protest was one of 11 in the main centres, the biggest being in Auckland with 2000 people.
