University uses state forces against activists


I/we call on Victoria University to lift the trespass notices on Heleyni Pratley and Joel Cosgrove.

(Organisation/title/institution for identification purposes only)



  1. Margaret Reith says:

    About time these idiots were locked up. Why do they even want to be at Uni, they are not students anymore. Glad the Uni didn’t stand for it.

  2. I concur with Margaret, fantastic that these individuals were locked up. The fact that the police outnumbered the protesters (despite it being well advertised) shows that Vic students wont put up with the nonsense.

    Amusing that promoters of this protest were booed out of class when they tried to recruit us ;)

  3. Mrs Margaret Thatcher Reith

    They were making an innocent statement about what our flag stands for and who really benefits from imperialist wars.

    Universities are supposed to embrace freedom of speech because without it society would be too afraid to reveal the truth.

    Victoria University is actively barring debate and gaging students who wish to reveal the hypocrisy in the system.

    A very dangerous precedent!!!!

  4. Mr Drake, “barring debate” and issuing a trespass order for throwing missiles at those open to debate are two separate issues.

    Surly you would agree that this sort of dangerous behaviour is undemocratic, reprehensible and certainly deserves the trespass notice?

  5. Oliver, for the record, police officers did not outnumber protestors. Officers numbered 5 approx, protestors numbered around 20. I’d also point to the names of students on our statement, showing support.

    As for the administration being open to debate, a bureaucratic process of consultation is not a debate. The vast majority of students are left out of decision making by the university, which raises fees and clamps down on campus activism – whether it’s a rowdy WP picket or the Greens simply holding a petition in the quad.

    Meanwhile, Heleyni didn’t throw anything. She’s now been placed under arrest for holding a sign saying “Free education from kindergarten to PhD.”

  6. @ Oliver, it’s all very well to talk about the need for student protestors to respect democratic institutions but can you enlighten us as to who exactly elected the University Council which voted to raise fees and to ignore the wishes of both staff and students at VUW?

    And as far as “dangerous precedents” go, I get a strong sense of historical déja vu when I hear individuals making statements like “fantastic that these individuals were locked up” – not exactly very democratic or libertarian is it?

  7. Oliver, a few eggs were thrown at a protest. Heleyni didn’t throw any of them. She was trespassed because she refused to let a couple of goons sent by Victoria University management into her house. When they tried to push past her, looking for Joel, she got the door shut and locked, so they yelled, “You’re trespassed too.” It was after that incident that she received her trespass notice.

    The only thing she did at the anti-fees rise protest was hold a placard calling for free education.

    The fact that she was trespassed shows that the trespass orders had notning to do with eggs or imaginary missiles; it was a purely political attack on the rights of two activists by the university.

    Frankly, it doesn’t matter whether you agree with them politically or not; you should still be disturbed at the use of politically-motivated trespass orders in this manner. If they can use them against people like Joel and Heleyni today, they will emboldened to use them against other people tomorrow.

  8. I am absolutely appaulled at the way Joel and Heleyni have been treated. Those thugs of the Victoria University have absolutely no right to enter their home and forcefully seperate them.

    Was their home on the University campus? And as a few witnesses attest here that they were not throwing missiles then it appeares that the Victoria University has failed to investigate even handedly.

    Joel and Heleyni could even file a complaint to the UN for human rights abuses.

  9. Nick Scullin says:

    Given the large number of Vic lecturers who have signed the petition (not to mention lecturers from other New Zealand and international Universities) you think the management would be listening. But of course they are not. Why? Because to them the university is NOT a democratic organisation. They are the managers and therefore they can do what they want and ignore the wishes of both students and academics. A university should be democratically run by the students and staff. Managers are authoritarian parasites, sucking huge amounts of money out of the pockets of students and general tax payers. How dear they treat protesting students in such a way?

    Since when was an egg “dangerous”? Harden up mate. I’ve had an egg fight before for fun and it doesn’t even hurt.

    The university management massively over reacted by any normal standard. You don’t have to be a Socialist or an activist to see that.

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