By FRANCESCA MOLD
A Labour Party member who was thrown out of the annual conference and handed over to police after he interjected during Prime Minister Helen Clark's speech plans to complain to the Police Complaints Authority.
Nick Kelly has accused the Labour Party of going over the top by involving police in the incident, which he believed should have been resolved internally.
Mr Kelly was hustled from the conference centre in North Shore City after he called out, "What about the bloody war", during Helen Clark's speech.
Mr Kelly was referring to the United States' bombing of Afghanistan, which he opposes.
Labour Party president Mike Williams and an Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union delegate, Paul Tolich, sat next to Mr Kelly in the expectation that he would make his opposition known.
When he interjected, they led him away, handing him over to a security guard, who escorted him outside to waiting police.
Mr Kelly said police warned him not to return or he would be arrested for trespass or disorderly conduct.
He claimed the officers also attacked his political views, telling him he should join the Green Party, which opposes the war, and not interfere in Labour Party decisions.
"I think it's disgusting. It's my right to oppose this [the war].
"If I did it in a way that was provocative it should have been sorted out within the party rather than by the police."
He said he planned to lay a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority and the Labour Party's New Zealand council.
Mr Kelly said he believed the Labour Party had supported the war in Afghanistan to secure a free-trade deal with the United States.
It is not the first time Mr Kelly has felt the wrath of the Labour Party.
He was sacked as chairman of Commerce Minister Paul Swain's Rimutaka electorate committee because of his opposition to Labour's position on globalisation and free trade.
Ejected party member vows to lay complaint
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