There was a small protest outside Parliament today as a delegation sought to speak with Attorney-General Michael Cullen in an effort to get him to refuse consent to lay terrorism charges against the Urewera 17. In the end Cullen didn't show - not surprising given his view (which I share) that decisions to prosecute should be made on the basis of the evidence, not politics - but during the protest some speakers addressed the protestors from Parliament's steps. This violates the agreed rules around protests in Parliament grounds, but the reaction of Parliamentary security was just a little over the top: they put the building into lockdown...
That said, despite the overreaction, Parliamentary security seems to have otherwise responded sanely, and simply reminded people of the rules rather than trying to escalate the situation. But it seems a bit excessive to spark a security scare in the face of a peaceful protest simply because someone stood on a step. There seems to be a lot of fear in there...
