When US secetary of state Condoleezza Rice visited New Zealand last weekend it did not go unnoticed by the anti-war movement. As the ‘No Right Turn’ blog pointed out:

Rice chaired the policy discussions which led to the US adopting a policy of torture and approving the waterboarding of suspected terrorists. That makes her a war criminal, guilty of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The discussions started when the CIA sought approval to torture al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah - approval which was granted. That makes her guilty of conspiracy to torture. Both are crimes under New Zealand law, over which New Zealand claims universal jurisdiction in accordance with international law

The Auckland University Students Association offered a NZ$5000 bounty for anyone making a citizens arrest of Rice. The Victoria University Students association doubled the bounty to NZ$10,000 when AUSA withdrew the bounty after pressure from the authorities. VUWSA president Joel Cosgrove said Rice should be arrested because she is responsible for the deaths of at least 600,000 Iraqis killed since the 2003 invasion by U.S.-led coalition troops.
When Rice arrived in Auckland she had to change hotels as hotel workers had planned strikes to coincide with her stay. Despite bad weather, 150 people protested outside Government House as Rice met with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and foreign minister Winston Peters. Several people turned up to the demo with handcuffs, and the protest included chanting, speeches and an impressive US flag burning. According to Indymedia protests were met with a violent response from law enforcement “police violently forced protesters off the sidewalk and out onto the road. Protesters were shoved, punched and thrown to the street and pain compliance holds used on several protesters to get them to move.”