Though various protest against the tour occurred, the tour decisively went ahead as planned by the New Zealand Rugby Union as Muldoon had decided not to intervene. As the tour progressed throughout New Zealand, what followed was 56 days of continuous protest therefore the movement had started to gain nation wide media coverage. The spread of the protest was massive as throughout New Zealand you could find anti-tour protestors everywhere as everyone had a personal opinion on whether the tour should have gone ahead or that it should have been prevented such as what occurred when Norman Kirk's Labour party was in power. Though Kirk lost a lot of support he did what was right as it helped to send a message to South Africa that the country did not accept their apartheid-regime.
Key IDEAS
One of the key ideas of the tour was idea to prevent the tour at all costs. This led protestors to put their bodies on the line especially during the confrontation with the police. After the first test match was cancelled, the police had increased funding to prevent this happening during other matches. Thus police were allowed to use batons which resulted in physical damage to the protestors. Another key idea of the tour was the formation of coalitions such as the protest group HART in order to show the public their beliefs and to stand up for what they believed in. This was the result of the build up of tension and thus HART joined forces with other groups in order to make a stand. After the confrontation with the police escalated to a more violent manner, protestors started to don helmets in order to protect themselves from the police.
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