Not guilty pleas to protest charges

Four men charged after a protest in Parliament grounds last week where a New Zealand flag was burned have pleaded not guilty.

Paul Barry Hopkinson, 37, teacher, of Porirua, Stephen William Hay, 23, unemployed, of Brooklyn, Nicholas Jonathan Kelly, 21, student, of Aro Valley, and Anthony Thomas West, 23, engineer, of Te Aro, have all been charged with disorderly behaviour on July 29.

They were yesterday remanded by a Wellington District Court registrar until September 7.

The protest came only a few days after a High Court judge threw out Hopkinson's conviction for burning the New Zealand flag during a protest at the war in Iraq last year.