New Zealand Protesters Push Shopping Cart Full of Burning Marijuana Into Police Station

Dakta Green, New Zealand Activist

Cannabis activist in New Zealand staged a protest in Wellington that ended when a group of protesters invaded the police station with a large cart full of burning marijuana. The group had been demonstrating on parliament grounds earlier last Thursday by smoking marijuana openly in front of police and security as part of an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience. The crowd began shouting and cheering when one of the organizers declared a war on the country’s drug laws. One activists said the police had declared war on them, so they were declaring war on the police.

As the cart full of marijuana was burning in the police station, police rushed in with fire extinguishers and handcuff while the crowd shouted “Free the Weed”. With news cameras rolling, Dakta Green called for an Armistice tour, and has been crossing the country in a large green bus trying to convince marijuana users to live like it’s legal to force their country’s laws.

Green, who helped organize the protest has been leading an effort to legalize marijuana in New Zealand, and also trying to convince police to allow sports fans to smoke marijuana during the rugby World Cup next year. New Zealanders have an unfortunate history of violence when it comes to losing rugby matches, and locals say it is due to large amounts of alcohol being consumed during the game.The marijuana campaigners suggest that allowing fans to smoke marijuana instead would be safer. The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP), is calling for an amnesty for all personal cannabis use during the rugby world cup. “In light of recent alcohol-fueled violence at football games and the fact that an amnesty succeeded in Spain during the Soccer World Cup, we see no reason why a similar program couldn’t succeed here,” according to their website.

Green later delivered an “Armistice Agreement” bearing the signatures of 4,500 people to the New Zealand Police. For their part, the police had vowed to handle the protesters peacefully as possible to avoid the violence that erupted over a protest with police back in 2006. They said the protests was well organized and protesters that numbered around 100, obeyed all instructions from the police. No arrests have been made yet over the incident. The shopping cart full of burning marijuana was caught on camera and the police are weighing their options of pressing charges against some of the protesters. Justice Minister Simon Power said he would not be heeding the protesters demands for a cannabis amnesty during the rugby World Cup next year.