Auckland Now Resembles A Militarised Zone
by Selwyn Manning
Auckland now definitely resembles a police militarised zone with security at full strength for this week’s APEC leader’s summit meetings.
Around 2500 New Zealand police are now in the city with 1600 deployed in Auckland from regions and districts throughout the country.
The public will particularly notice a strong security presence from now on as ministers from the 21 APEC counties gather for pre-leader’s summit meetings, APEC police operations spokesperson Robyn Orchard says.
It is expected that police, security agents, and private security officers will be on extra alert tomorrow due to a high powered meeting scheduled for tomorrow night to discuss solutions to the atrocities and anarchy currently inflaming East Timor.
Police are not commenting on its degree of alert or what extra measures it will employ throughout the next week.
Heightened protest action is also expected in Auckland with pro-East Timorese supporters joining in numbers with anti-APEC protests.
Extra security will
likely be employed to surrounding the hotel where Indonesian
dignitaries are staying.