Text Fwd: Dome slasher to speak at spy base protest

* Text fwd from CAFCA on Jan. 20, 2011


Stuff.co.nz
Dome slasher to speak at spy base protest
BLAIR ENSOR
Last updated 12:00 20/01/2011


One of the three men who slashed a dome at the Waihopai Valley spy base will return to the controversial satellite communications station near Blenheim on Saturday for an annual protest.

Anti-bases Campaign spokesman, Christchurch-based Murray Horton, said Ploughshares peace activist and Dominican friar Peter Murnane would speak about what motivated the trio's protest in 2008.

Green MP Keith Locke and Global Peace and Justice Auckland spokesman John Minto would also speak at the event, Mr Horton said.

The repercussions of the spy base attack are ongoing, with the Crown seeking $1.2 million in damages from Mr Murnane, teacher Adrian Leason, and farmer Sam Land.

The three men broke into the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) on Waihopai Valley Rd on April 30, 2008, cutting through alarmed electric fences without setting off any audible alarms or getting electrocuted before reaching one of two inflatable domes and slashing and deflating it.

They were found not guilty by a jury in April last year on charges of burglary and wilful damage.

They successfully used the "claim of right" defence and said they were saving lives in Iraq by disrupting satellite trans-missions and were acting for the greater good.

Mr Horton said Mr Murnane's attendance at this weekend's rally would create greater public interest in the event.

He expected up to 30 people to assemble in Seymour Square at 11am before marching through the centre of Blenheim.

Protesters would drive to the Waihopai base about 2pm, he said.

"I think [Mr Murnane's] presence will add a great deal. He was one of three people prepared to stick his neck on the line.

"We are fully supportive of what those guys did although we had no prior knowledge of what they were going to do.

"It was a perfect demonstration of non-violent action. However, we have no plans to do anything similar," Mr Horton said.

Senior Sergeant Ciaran Sloan, of Blenheim, said police would be prepared for the demonstration this weekend.

Protests against the presence of the base have been held al-most every year since 1988.

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