Waihopai trio will not face sabotage charges
2/5/08
Charges of sabotage will not be laid against three protesters accused of damaging a protective dome over a satellite dish at the Waihopai spy base, police confirmed today. Dominican friar Peter Murnane, 67, along with farmer Samuel Land, 24, and organic gardener Adrian Leason, 42, were arrested after allegedly breaking into the Marlborough base early on Wednesday morning. The group, calling themselves the Anzac Ploughshares, said they had broken into the spy base to protest against the war on terror. They were charged with intentional damage and entering a building with the intent to commit a crime.
See; http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10507443
Waihopai vandalism pointless
Editorial: 2/5/08
The work done by facilities at Waihopai, near Blenheim, and Tangimoana, in the Manawatu, has been the subject of rumour and speculation since they began operating. Protest groups have highlighted their top-secret nature by referring to them as spy bases and calling for information about them to be made public. Therefore, by far the most interesting aspect of the raid on Waihopai by three men belonging to the Anzac Ploughshares group was the unveiling of what lay beneath the station’s rubber domes. There, exposed to the world by the protesters’ sickles, was what appeared to be a fairly conventional satellite dish. Leading-edge technology this did not appear to be.
See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10507570