Migrant shopkeepers in Auckland say violent crime is on the rise and they want police to do something about it.
Small business owners in Auckland are calling for better police protection against what they say is rising violent crime. Photo: RNZ / Anusha Bradley
Hundreds of people marched in Manukau, South Auckland, this afternoon calling for more police patrols and the reopening of closed police stations to help keep them safe.
Violent robberies and attacks were happening almost every day but the police often failed to help, rally organiser Sunny Kaushal said.
"Whenever you call the police, you do not have police available. The police is under-resourced and under-budgeted."
Photo: RNZ / Anusha Bradley
Ōtāhuhu liquor store owner Sukhwinder Singh said he had been robbed many times.
Gangs of young people, some just 11-years-old, would often target his shop, he said, and he no longer felt safe.
"My family, they do not like that I am running a liquor store, but if I stop this what should I do?"
Sukhwinder Singh Sahota, who owns a liquor store in Ōtahuhu, said gangs of youths, some as young as 11, often targeted his store and he no longer felt safe. Photo: RNZ / Anusha Bradley
Mr Singh, who migrated to New Zealand from India in 2001, said this country no longer felt safer than his home country.
Rally organiser Sunny Kaushal and Labour MP Jenny Salesa speak to protesters. Photo: RNZ / Anusha Bradley
Mr Kaushal said he created the Crime Prevention Group to pull together business owners from all ethnicities to send a message to the government.
"Let's all ask the government for an urgent need of setting up a special police task force to deal with rising crime on small businesses, more police on patrols, more powers to police and reopen all the closed police stations," he said.