October 26, 2015
Tribe evicts rowers from Horowhenua squat
Members of Mua Upoko have giving the rowing club at Lake Horowhenua until Friday to vacate the building it has been squatting in.
There was a tense stand-off last Friday when the group including lake kaitiaki Phil Taueki entered the building and waited for the rowers to turn up.
Supporter Anne Hunt says police initially tried to negotiate for the rowers to remain.
She says one of the rowers had to be restrained after threatening to kill her and one of the Mua Upoko members.
The lease on the site, which is Mua Upoko land, expired in 2007, and the club has never paid rent or rates.
Ms Hunt says on Friday night there were also two shots fired through the former sailing club building, which has also been taken over by Mua Upoko.
Today (Tuesday) is the start of a four-day hearing on Horizons Regional Council’s application for a resource consent to bring a weed harvester onto the lake and build a sediment trap and fish paths.
Ms Hunt says Mua Upoko is opposing the work, which is part of the so-called Lake Accord, because it is cosmetic and will destroy historic sites without addressing the causes of the lake pollution.
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