The extent that anti-tour protestors, pro-tour supporters and the police force went to to fulfill their obligations greatly exceeded the expectations of most as the nation came very close to a civil war.
"Boks Go Home" became the slogan and a chant that was continuously thrown at the Springboks during their controversial visit to New Zealand.
"Boks Go Home" became the slogan and a chant that was continuously thrown at the Springboks during their controversial visit to New Zealand.
Tour Dates
19 July Arrival
On the 19th of July, the day that the Springbok team was due to arrive, around 2000 protestors assembled at the Auckland International Airport waiting around dawn. There were staff, students, clergy and bishops from St John's Theological College also there, holding a "Service of Repentance and Solidarity with the Black People of South Africa." They sang hymns, took communion, listened to speakers but were stopped from entering the terminal building because the Cross they had could be used as a weapon.
An eight foot wire fence separated the public from the restricted area. There were over a hundred yards of a solid mass of protestors pushed up against the fence. There were some with wire-cutters who were secretly cutting the wire and when the Air New Zealand 747 from Los Angeles began descending, a dozen people pushed through the fence. They all ran towards the tarmac but were stopped very shortly after.
An eight foot wire fence separated the public from the restricted area. There were over a hundred yards of a solid mass of protestors pushed up against the fence. There were some with wire-cutters who were secretly cutting the wire and when the Air New Zealand 747 from Los Angeles began descending, a dozen people pushed through the fence. They all ran towards the tarmac but were stopped very shortly after.
22 July Gisborne
The countryside city had a considerable Maori population. Eight out of nine districts of the New Zealand Maori Council had voted against the Springbok tour with the one in favour being Tai Rawhiti, of which Gisborne is an important centre. On the day of the game, many young Maori were seen in the front lines as a march left the Courthouse to Rugby Park. Before the march began, Hone Ngata, Pauline McKay (Chairperson of HART) and Gary Foley (Australian Aboriginal representative) spoke of the theme "New Zealand's Day of Shame." The marchers held banners saying "KA WHAWHAI TONU MATOU AKE AKE AKE!" meaning "We will fight on forever and ever and ever"; and "SPRINGBOKS - THE BIG WHITE LIE." The protestors were able to break through the perimeter fence as they reached the rugby park. The game in Gisborne between the Springboks and Poverty Bay was the first face to face confrontation between the supporters and the anti-tour protestors. A vicious fight broke out between the two sides. Rugby supporters kicked and bashed the intruding marchers, aided by police with batons who also used knees, feet and fists. Many of the protestors were injured and forced back but like the rugby fans, were not discouraged.
25 July Hamilton
Anti-tour protestors successfully caused the Hamilton game on the 25th of July against the Waikato team to be cancelled. Around 4000 demonstrators marched towards Rugby Park while shouting "Amand-la, Amandla Ngaweto" and "Remem-ber, Remem-ber So-weto." The African chant meant "Power, Power to the People" while the second chant referred to to an incident in Johannesburg where 78 blacks died when police fired into riot crowds. Those at the front of the march were specialists holding wire-cutters and chains so they could drag fence railings down. The protestors flooded onto the field, letting off smoke bombs. A light Cessna 172 aircraft had been taken by Pat Quarrie from the Taupo airport, rumoured to be crashed into the crowd at the game. As a result Police Commissioner Jim Walton decided to abandon the game.
Within the crowd of demonstrators were many plain-clothes detectives who pretended to be demonstrators. They pointed out particular protestors who would later be seized by "snatch squads." Police lines were also being established and the Red Squad armed with visors and batons raced onto the field.
Rugby supporters shouted angry phrases like "Gun 'em down" and "Use yer batons." One man even shouted "Smash the bastards' heads in." When the game was cancelled they expressed their anger verbally and physically. The enraged fans hit and kicked protestors regardless of men or women an even hurled wine bottles and cans into crowds. Police attempted to escort the protestors out of the park as they were being so badly abused. The Sunday News reported:
Within the crowd of demonstrators were many plain-clothes detectives who pretended to be demonstrators. They pointed out particular protestors who would later be seized by "snatch squads." Police lines were also being established and the Red Squad armed with visors and batons raced onto the field.
Rugby supporters shouted angry phrases like "Gun 'em down" and "Use yer batons." One man even shouted "Smash the bastards' heads in." When the game was cancelled they expressed their anger verbally and physically. The enraged fans hit and kicked protestors regardless of men or women an even hurled wine bottles and cans into crowds. Police attempted to escort the protestors out of the park as they were being so badly abused. The Sunday News reported:
... many of them were dropped to the ground by a barrage of fists and kicks. A young girl as kneed in the mouth, losing several teeth, and her teenage companion was felled when she was punched in the groin. As the fragile wall of protestors struggled to make it out the gate they were chased by the crowd and repeatedly hit. A middle-aged man standing beside our reporter was struck in the face by a fan clutching a beer can. His nose and cheek were split open and he staggered out of the ground and grasped a power pole to save himself from collapsing ... outside the grounds, dazed protestors tried to regroup while still being abused and attacked... A girl who slipped over in the mud while running from a horde of supporters was dragged to her feet by her hair and punched in the face and stomach.
The Hamilton game had proved that the anti-tour movement was extremely determined to stop the racist tour and "a clear indication that New Zealanders opposed to discrimination will not tolerate a team from a structure hell bent to preserve racial superiority." This demonstration also achieved much publicity for the anti-tour movement.
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29 July Wellington
The next Springbok game was scheduled to be played on July 29 in New Plymouth which the Taranaki team won. Many anti-tour protestors were not demonstrating at the game but were participating in a planned march on the South African consulate in Wellington. Nearly 2000 anti-protestors gathered near Parliament grounds when the protest march met a police blockade. The march had gone straight up to the police line on Molesworth Street who had declared they were not to. The police used long batons as a last resort in defense as the march continued pushing forwards, stunning the protestors who later laid assault charges. The Napier Labour M.P. Gordon Christie watched the demonstration and described his view of the event:
Never once did I see them not obey a command of their marshals. They kept away from barriers that were there. They were totally under control and they peacefully walked away from Parliament Buildings. I heard every word the man with a loud-speaker was able to say. But I want to tell this House that never once did I hear them tell those marshals not to go up on Molesworth Street. So the law and order in this country was broken not by the protestors on Wednesday night, but by the person who gave the order to baton down women and children.
The police received much criticism after the Molesworth demonstration and from then on, protestors carried shields and wore crash helmets to protect themselves from being attacked by the police.
8 August Invercargill
In Invercargill, the rugby fans were extremely violent. One protestor was knocked unconscious in a pool room because they spoke against the tour. Bottles were thrown through the windows at the homes of protest leaders. Invercargill was when the police introduced a new oppressive tactic. The New Zealand Army Personnel laid rolls of barbed wire between the pitch and spectator areas. The police force in the city was increased by 400 allowing them to block every intersection on the way to the playing field except one.
11 August Dunedin
Many protestors were students. As Dunedin was a university city, there was a very solid opposition.Five hundred marchers set off to Carisbrook via the motorway but were stopped shortly by a double line of police with batons despite being the agreement they could be within sight or sound of the rugby grounds. There were also around 400 who took part in a silent march while a number sat and waited outside the Southern Cross hotel for Springboks.
15 August Christchurch
Opposition to the tour was the strongest in Christchurch. The protestors were made up of capitalists, socialists communists, sexists, non-sexists, feminists and approximately 6000 of them set out from Cathedral Square. Messages on small slips of paper were passed down the line informing marchers that those at the front would be likely to be involved in direct action. The march soon turned violent and again, the police hit protestors with batons. A new tactic of the police that worked was to confront all the roadblocks made of jumbo bins filled with sand and manned by riot squads. Protestors were eventually forced back but one policeman described it as "sheer luck" that nobody was killed that day.
29 August Wellington
Action began on the 29 August in the morning when 7000 protestors assembled in central Wellington. Painted plywood shields and thousands of chest protectors made from cardboard tubing were distributed to the participants of the marchers. There were also groups of doctors and nurses at different parts of the march ready to aid the injured. According to the Dominion newspaper, "the struggle began when officers began dragging people out of the demonstration" kicking them and punching them. Protestors also had their legs and hands stamped on.
12 September Auckland
"All hell broke loose" as scenes of violence and bloodied protestors were everywhere at the final test. Some portions of the anti-tour movement had an intention to provoke violence, intensifying the situation. There were even rocks and missles thrown at the police who lined some streets leading to Eden Park with containers as a way of giving supporters a route to the game, keeping them separate from protestors. There were fights when protestors tried to bar spectators' paths and some opportunists who only wanted to fight. The rugby grounds itself was packed with security, rugby officials and police who were determined not to allow a pitch invasion. Rather than a pitch invasion, Marx Jones and Grant Hole hired a Cessna airplane, dropping flour bombs and flares on the field. At the end, people were sprawled injured on grass and roads and 67 had to be treated at Auckland Hospital.