Protesters dressed as a clown and rabbit beside police during Springbok Tour protest

item details

NameProtesters dressed as a clown and rabbit beside police during Springbok Tour protest

ProductionAllan Cumming; photographer; 12 September 1981; New Zealand

Classificationgelatin silver prints, black-and-white prints

Materialssilver, photographic gelatin, photographic paper

Materials SummaryBlack and white photograph, gelatin silver print

Techniquesblack-and-white photography

DimensionsImage: 206mm (width), 154mm (height)

Registration NumberO.045174

Credit lineGift of Aylza Donald in memory of Jacques Monroe, 2017

Overview

This photograph shows protesters dressed as a clown and rabbit on the day of the last rugby test of the Springbok Tour on 12 September 1981 in Auckland. They had come to join the protesters in a non-violent capacity to bring light-heartedness to the angry and charged environment. They carried baguettes and flowers and offered lollies to police officers.

The Springbok Rugby Tour of 1981 was a seminal event in New Zealand's political and social history - exposing deep rifts in society. Many New Zealanders objected to the tour because of South Africa's policy of racial apartheid, and many questioned racism at home. Protests caused obstruction and the cancellation of games, and violence escalated between protesters, supporters and police during the tour. The elite Red Squad were the most feared for their violent tactics, including unsanctioned use of their PR24 batons, which were not permitted to be used above the chest.

Protests were particularly violent on the day of the last test. The clowns took cover against a hedge on Dominion Road as violence erupted near them. Without provocation, three members of the Red Squad assaulted them with batons. Two of the clowns were severely batoned (Glenn Spiller and Jacques Monroe), with Monroe suffering a ruptured ear drum and gash down the side of his head requiring twelve stitches. The young woman dressed as a bumblebee (Janina Adamiak) was batoned on the neck and left unconscious. Both were stretchered into a nearby ambulance.

Monroe, Spiller and Adamiak submitted a formal complaint to the police. Witnesses to the attack included a journalist. However, the Red Squad refused an identity parade, until police command and public pressure led to a formal identification parade. This was inconclusive: senior Red Squad leader Ross Meurant later admitted that he had protected the guilty officers by omitting them from the line-up. Another identification parade was held in January 1982 and was much mocked by the press and public - the 'clowns' and other witnesses were placed in strategic positions along Hobson Bay to watch Red Squad members going for a training run. They were so out of context as to be unrecognisable.

The internal police investigation failed to resolve the case. The 'clowns incident' led to a civil trial against the Police Department. This was successful with each of the injured receiving $10,000 in 1984. None of the officers involved in the beating were ever identified.