Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
NEWSFLASH: Speight Walks Around Parliament....
(The following was broadcast moments ago... on Radio New Zealand's checkpoint programme..... the text is paraphrased and is not to be taken as a transcript of the broadcast.)
Live on the scene at a police checkpoint.
- Barbara Dreaver reporting....
There are around 100 people here. There are people lining the fences to support George Speight. Everyone is cheering and saying he is the PM.
Was he successful in
I am not sure about that Mary.
What is significant is that every checkpoint we came to let us through without question.
Just in front of me is a gunman. There are propbably around 15 media here. The atmosphere is peaceful but very tense. We are walking towards Parliament now. the whole idea was just for George Speight to demonstrate his power.
Singing in the background.
Everybody is holding hands. 15 people wide 15 people dead. We are now approaching Parliament, 15 meters from Parliament's gates.
Lisa Owen - Parliament Grounds.
I have spoken with the Army Major he is showing his support. He said he was concerned things would get out of hand so he came down here.
George Speight is refusing to say terribly much and is walking silently with his supporters getting he people to put down their weapons.
Speight is still flexing his muscles. He was told he would be arrested outside Parliament and he wasn't he was able to.
Cellphone cut out...
Barbara Dreaver...
Presenter: What we need is clarification from the military what is going on?
Exactly right...that would be my first question.
Cellphone cut out.
Alastair Thompson
Scoop Publisher
Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.
Harry Finch: Austerity – For And Against
Gordon Campbell: On Winston Peters’ Pathetic Speech At The UN
Binoy Kampmark: Flicker Of Hope, Biden’s Throwaway Lines On Assange
Media Matters NZ: Here We Go Again
Ian Powell: How To Immobilise A Health System’s Primary Statutory Adviser And Monitor
Gordon Campbell: On Israel’s Murderous Use Of AI In Gaza