An unemployed man has been charged over the axe attack on Prime Minister Helen Clark's electorate office in Auckland last month.
The 30-year-old Grey Lynn man was due to be released today on police bail to appear in Auckland District Court tomorrow.
Avondale detectives charged the man with conspiracy to
commit criminal damage and seditious conspiracy. More charges were possible before he appeared in court tomorrow, police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said.
Police were to examine a computer and printer seized from the man's home today.
During the attack on November 18, an axe was embedded in the window of Miss Clark's electorate office in Sandringham Rd, apparently in a protest against the Foreshore and Seabed Bill.
Police cordoned the office and later secured a phone booth on Williamson Ave, Ponsonby.
Police later said someone may have phoned Radio New Zealand from that booth, telling staff there was a package to be picked up on Ponsonby Rd - believed to be a reference to flyers later found by police.
The flyers said the attack was a Pakeha protest about the Government's attempts to steal Maori land through the Foreshore and Seabed Bill.
The broken glass window expressed the "broken justice" of the foreshore and seabed legislation, the flyers said.
Miss Clark said the attack was "violent criminal behaviour and there is no place for it in a democracy".
- NZPA
