Flag Burners call for court to throw out charges

Four protesters arrested for burning the New Zealand flag in protest against NZ troops being sent to Afghanistan and occupying Iraq will appear in the Wellington District Court on Tuesday September 7th to face charges of 'disorderly behaviour'. Paul Hopkinson (Porirua), Nick Kelly (Upper Hutt) and Steven Hay (Wellington) are all candidates for Mayor for the Anti-Capitalist Alliance in the upcoming local body elections. Also arrested was Anthony West Wellington antiwar activist.

Paul Hopkinson claimed "the arrests were nothing more than police harassment and were definitely politically motivated against anti-war activists in Wellington."

Hopkinson recently had a conviction of dishounouring the flag overturned on appeal in the High Court. The High Court upheld his freedom of expression in overturning the conviction. The Police arrests last month blatantly ignored the protestors freedom of expression.

In light of the earlier decision of the High Court, all three believed the charges against them should be thrown out by the District Court.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>