Maori archbishop demands apology for Ruatoki raids

The New Zealand Herald says:Anglican Maori incensed by police tactics in the Bay of Plenty terrorism raids are calling on the Government and police to apologise to Tuhoe and Ruatoki people.

Archbishop Brown Turei, Anglican primate and Te Pihopa o Aotearoa – head of the church’s Maori stream says: “This is Pharaoh and the Hebrews in Egypt all over again. Acts of suppression are the instruments of the powerful to bring the people in line with an acceptable system.

“Moses said: ‘Let my people go.’ Maybe we can say: ‘Leave our people alone’,” he said.

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Cliff Notes’ News Commentary Team says:Unless there’s armies of Maori slaves enlisted in the upgrade of the stadiums in the next Rugby World Cup, we think the hyperbole in this and other Maori rhetoric will serve more as a PR pyramid scheme with diminishing benefits that only fuel indifference towards much Maori activism. Legitimate protests like the occupation of Whenuakite Station earlier this year suffer a blow to their mana amongst non-Maori because Maori overreaching in other areas puts more genuine protests into a credibility deficit at the outset.