January 11, 2018
Axe attack on NZ Wars memorial
A self-described “anti-colonial activist group” is claiming credit for vandalising a New Zealand Wars memorial on the corner of Symonds Street and City Road in Auckland early this morning
An axe was stuck to the head of a statue of Zealandia and a poster reading” Fascism and White Supremacy are not Welcome Here” was placed over a plaque.
The statues says it was “In memory of the brave men belonging to the imperial and colonial forces and the friendly Maoris who gave their lives for the country during the New Zealand Wards 1845-1872”.
The anonymous group issued a statement saying: “The ‘Zealandia’ war memorial is an ode to the violent and brutal occupation of Māori lands. It celebrates the ongoing colonisation of Aotearoa, its lands and its peoples. The settler capitalist system imposed on this land is a poison that works to systematically oppress indigenous peoples throughout the world to the benefit of corporations and the super-rich. It is a system that is doomed to fail.”
Other colonial era monuments in Auckland have been attacked in the past, including a statue in Albert Park of Sir George Grey whose head was stolen in the late 1980s and never recovered.
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