Solidarity with Auckland Animal Rights Activists

August 2010
Press Release: October 15th Solidarity

'The October 15th Solidarity group expresses our solidarity with the Auckland Animal Rights activists who recently discovered a tracking device in one of their cars. The corporate spying by Thompson and Clark Private Investigators on activists concerned with the cruel treatment of animals by business is shameful. This surveillance and harassment has reached another level of madness with this latest expose' says October 15th Spokesperson Peter Steiner.

The private security firm Thompson and Clark has been spying on activists for years. In 2007 they were caught infiltrating peace groups, animal rights campaigns, and anti-mining activists using undercover informants and hidden cameras. Despite this activists are not intimidated by their amateur attempts to destroy our organising.

For Operation 8, the police operation that resulted in the nationwide raids on 15 October 2007, the crown and police have wasted more than $20 million. The operation included tracking devices in cars, bugs in cars, houses and marae. They spent millions surveilling people all over the country.

It doesn't matter who spies the state or the corporates; their surveillance stems from the fear of losing power and control. A world without sow crates, without war, without dirty coal mines and with self-governing iwi and hapu: we think these are ideas worth fighting for!' concluded Peter Steiner.