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Protesters ahoy
By Steven | April 12, 2011
Andrew Geddis on Pundit has posted an analysis of some of the legal and constitutional issues surrounding Greenpeace’s protest against mining surveyers on the seas off the East Cape.
Among other interesting points, he suggests that the seas can’t be a public place for the purposes of a charge of disorderly behaviour. I’ve suggested they can, though that’s not to say that such a charge would be appropriate.
UPDATE: the debate has moved well beyond disorderly behaviour, but there’s still a bit of head-scratching as to the width of the police powers.
Topics: Protest speech | 2 Comments »
2 Responses to “Protesters ahoy”
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April 12th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
I’ve posted over there too, but in conclusion, I don’t believe it matters whether the open seas are a public place or not. Under New Zealand law there is no extra-territorial jurisdiction in respect of summary offences.
April 26th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
john key held a post-cab briefing and briefly mentioned that crown law had relied on the continental shelf act 1964.
And secondly the government would not be releasing any official legal advice as that its policy.
(s8 provides jurisdiction to the police)