新西蘭英語 24 Waihopai Protesters

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On Wednesday, 3 protesters entered the Waihopai spy base and caused damage to a large globe covering a satellite dish. The director says that the damage could be as much as $1 million.

Waihopai is near Blenheim in the north of the South Island. It has been the scene of many demonstrations in the past 30 years. Protesters say that it is a military base to help Americans in the war against Iraq. It is a New Zealand base. It uses spy satellites to listen to telephone conversations, read email and fax messages in the Pacific and is part of a bigger network involving the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. These countries share information. It is helpful for New Zealand to be part of this global security which it could not do on its own.

These 3 protesters belong to a Christian group called ANZAC Ploughshares. They are a peace group. They believe that New Zealand is being dragged into America’s War on Terror through sharing spy information.

Security at Waihopai is very tight and it is very embarrassing that protesters were able to enter the base. It was foggy early on Wednesday morning and the security guards did not see the protesters cutting fences or entering the base. The protesters had planned this attack for a long time, using emails and text messages to contact each other but surprisingly, the Waihopai base had not used their electronic spy methods to discover the plan.

The protesters were arrested and are now in jail, waiting for their case to be heard next week. They will possibly be charged under the Terrorism Act.