Hundreds protest against GCSB bill

Between 300 and 400 people gathered in Hamilton’s Garden Place on Saturday to protest against the controversial GCSB spy bill.

Organiser Max Coyle was happy Hamiltonians turned out in such numbers to call on politicians to vote against the proposed bill.

“I’m just stoked about the amount of support,” he said.

“A lot of people have come and stood up today from across the political spectrum. And it’s going to send another message, especially to…these MPs that might be fence sitting.”

For Mr Coyle, it showed people care about this issue.

“Is there apathy in New Zealand? Maybe. Is there some people who get out there and stand up for their rights? Clearly there is.

“We had 400 and something attending on Facebook and that’s how many people we had. People have come from around Waikato because this was their closest protest.”

Joseph McKay also helped to run the event and said privacy was a “basic human right”.

“There has to be room in our society for privacy without intrusion [by] the government. There has to be a realm that’s just for you.”

The bill, which is being passed under urgency, will expand the powers of the GCSB to capture the private information and communications of New Zealand citizens.

Maaki, a protester who did not want to share her surname, described the bill as a way to “strangle us and tighten us up”.

“It’s just disgusting,” she said.

“If you can’t even breathe…[or] have the freedom to talk, or even to speak to one another, to have opinions against the government without having that choice.

“We’re allowed to have that freedom of choice to talk about anything without being strangled.”

Another protester, Dino (who also did not want his surname known), was concerned about the use of urgency.

“It’s amazing that it’s gotten this far without proper public consultation,” he said.