Racism accusations

A Marist College student whose teachers tore down Black Lives Matter posters at the school says it’s indicative of the systematic racism students deal with. Teachers at Marist College in Auckland are being criticised for taking down posters put up by Year 13 students. Ani Cherrington is furious her daughter and other senior students at Marist College are in trouble for putting up Black Lives Matter posters without permission. It comes as St Andrew’s College in Christchurch is investigating a claim by Year 13 students that a teacher destroyed posters and verbally abused them for promoting the Black Lives Matter movement. Ani Cherrington told RNZ’s Morning Report her daughter Nia also helped organise nineminutes of silence for George Floyd and started a petition to highlight racial issues at the college. She had logged a formal complaint with the school board. – RNZ

A woman suffered brain damage, a fractured eye socket and cuts to her face in an unprovoked assault by a stranger while waiting at traffic lights. Deni Smart, 29, was sipping a softdrink while stopped at the lights near Christchurch’s Eastgate Shopping Centre about 5.30pm on May 30 when she noticed a woman approaching her passenger door. ‘‘She just got in and she just said to me ‘you’re a f…… mongrel b….’ and she grabbed my ponytail and smashed my head against my window and punched me probably five times. I pleaded with her to stop and she wouldn’t.’’ Smart has been referred to the concussion clinic at Burwood Hospital to get a better idea of the damage to her brain. Eleven days after the incident Smart, the customer services manager for a community housing trust, said she was battling anxiety and trauma. She was unsure why she was attacked.