Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 28, 2022 3:31:50 GMT 12
TURBULENT TIMES FOR RAGLAN’S ‘BEAUTIFUL’ AIRFIELD AS FENCE DIVIDES COMMUNITY
On Monday morning this week, two United Tribes and one Tino Rangatiratanga flag are flying beside Raglan airfield, near a handful of protesters in a campsite with a huddle of caravans and awnings. Washing is drying on a line under a hot sun. On the road immediately outside the gate is a sign prohibiting freedom camping. Protesters have been here intermittently in one form or another since November last year, but their ranks have not exactly swelled over time. Ihumātao, this is not.
They are encamped beside a council fence which has been repeatedly cut and vandalised since being installed just before Christmas. Posts have also been pulled out, and in response Waikato District Council closed the airfield over safety concerns. On the far side, a CCTV camera has been hoisted atop a pole in an attempt to stop vandalism, while council also employed security guards to keep an eye on the place through January, before the airfield was closed early in February.
What was a $31,000 safety fix has got a whole lot more expensive.
About 80 percent of the fence was vandalised, according to the council, and everywhere you look there are rolls of the cut mesh fencing. A row of cones set up by the occupiers now acts as a guide for pedestrians to cross the closed field.......
www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/127887000/turbulent-times-for-raglans-beautiful-airfield-as-fence-divides-community
On Monday morning this week, two United Tribes and one Tino Rangatiratanga flag are flying beside Raglan airfield, near a handful of protesters in a campsite with a huddle of caravans and awnings. Washing is drying on a line under a hot sun. On the road immediately outside the gate is a sign prohibiting freedom camping. Protesters have been here intermittently in one form or another since November last year, but their ranks have not exactly swelled over time. Ihumātao, this is not.
They are encamped beside a council fence which has been repeatedly cut and vandalised since being installed just before Christmas. Posts have also been pulled out, and in response Waikato District Council closed the airfield over safety concerns. On the far side, a CCTV camera has been hoisted atop a pole in an attempt to stop vandalism, while council also employed security guards to keep an eye on the place through January, before the airfield was closed early in February.
What was a $31,000 safety fix has got a whole lot more expensive.
About 80 percent of the fence was vandalised, according to the council, and everywhere you look there are rolls of the cut mesh fencing. A row of cones set up by the occupiers now acts as a guide for pedestrians to cross the closed field.......
www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/127887000/turbulent-times-for-raglans-beautiful-airfield-as-fence-divides-community