By Jonathan Ayling on Plainsight.nz…
Today, Daniel Maxwell appeared in court in Auckland after being arrested last year for counter-protesting at a pro-Palestinian rally.
You won’t believe the reason listed on the Court’s Summary of Facts:
“Police have been informed by the Palestinian rally organisers that their people see any form of Israeli regalia as a sign of violence towards them… [Maxwell] was carrying an Israeli flag [and] given a direction by Police to leave the area and not return.”
Maxwell did leave when instructed, and took his flag with him. Later, he came back to the same public location, having left his flag behind this time.
That was when he was arrested for obstruction. This seems like a stock-standard case of counter-protest, but if he’s found guilty he will face a fine of thousands of dollars, or up to 3 months in prison.
I’ll make this short. When an individual can’t peacefully fly a flag as counter-protest in a public space, because individuals interpret this as ‘violence’ towards them, our speech rights are dead.
This is not the only protest case we are pursuing at the moment. We’re looking into this issue, but we understand it is becoming common practice for police to arrest counter-protestors in public spaces.
Read Jonathan Ayling’s full article on Plainsight.nz here.
Jonathan Ayling is the chief executive of the Free Speech Union.
