Police to apologise for threat to arrest Wellington man making peaceful protest

Police will apologise for telling a man he would be arrested if he waved a banner in a peaceful protest at last year’s Anzac Day service in Wellington.

Wellington man Richard Noble arrived at the Ataturk Turkish memorial on Anzac Day intending to wave his banner, which was the flag of Armenia with the words “Recognise Armenian Genocide” written on it.

Before Noble could wave his banner he asked a senior police officer at the memorial what would happen if he did so. The officer told Noble that if he waved his banner he would be asked to leave, and if he didn’t leave he would be arrested for trespass.

So rather than be arrested, Noble moved to public land and waved his banner there.

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It wasn’t the first time Noble, 53, had taken the banner to the Ataturk memorial. He had waved it there in 2017 and 2018.

In 2018 the Turkish Embassy secretary, Sadullah Uzun, said he wouldn’t make his speech until Noble’s banner was removed. On that occasion police informed Uzun they couldn’t intervene, and he made his speech in the presence of Noble’s banner.

Troubled by the police officer’s actions last year, Noble laid a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

The Ataturk Memorial above Tarakena Bay is on Wellington City Council land, and the council had delegated trespass authority to police.

In making his complaint to the IPCA, Noble noted that the council’s authority to police required that trespass powers could only be used provided an individual’s rights and freedoms under the Bill of Rights were limited “only to the extent reasonably necessary”.

Last week Noble received a letter from the IPCA informing him that police had accepted that the officer’s comments to him on ANZAC Day were wrong and that the officer’s comments “had the effect of preventing you from undertaking lawful protest activities”.

The letter said: “The Authority has agreed with Police that they will contact you to apologise for the way you were dealt with.” The authority noted that as well as speaking to the officer concerned, police would develop a training package to “further educate frontline staff about their powers and expectations at protests”.

Noble said he was “stoked” with the decision. He was unsure if he would be protesting at the memorial this year.

“But if I do turn up I will certainly have a copy of the council instruction with me, and a copy of the IPCA decision on my person,” he said.

“I’m just pleased that I looked at the council authorisation clearly and spotted the clause that meant it couldn’t be used willy-nilly and that regard had to be made of the Bill of Rights,” he said.

The IPCA told Noble he should hear from police within three weeks.

Earlier this month the council said it was liaising with police about whether “any trespass delegation is appropriate and required”.

The killing of between 664,000 and 1.2 million Armenian people by the Ottoman – now Turkish – government between 1915 and 1916 is recognised as genocide by 32 countries including the United States, Canada, France, Germany and Russia.

New Zealand does not officially recognise it as a genocide.