Protester: Skinheads shot at me

WARWICK SMITH/Manawatu Standard

TARGET: Heather Simpson, pictured with fellow protestor Mich France, says skinheads fired a slug gun at her in Palmerston North's Square. 'I'm not sure whether it was our cause, or whether it's just because I'm a hippy chick with natty dreadlocks,' she said

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A woman who visited Palmerston North as part of protest walk against climate change says a carload of youths fired a gun at her in The Square.

Heather Simpson, 22, said the attack came as she was busking outside McDonald's.

She noticed the car of youths approaching, she wasn't too concerned - until she saw the gun.

"There were four young men with shaved heads, dressed in camouflage. One of them leant out the back window and pointed a gun right at me."

In that split-second, she said she didn't know whether the four "skinheads", were just playing a prank, trying to freak her out.

"I didn't know whether it was a slug gun or a real gun or what. I just saw these two kind of drug-crazed eyes looking at me."

At the last moment, she ducked.

Ms Simpson said she jerked her head to the side - just in time to feel something graze against her ear, and slam into the wall behind her.

What was later found to be a slug- gun pellet had brushed past her ear and embedded in the wall.

Shaken, Ms Simpson said she went to the Palmerston North police station. But she said police told her there was a limited amount they could do because she couldn't give a detailed description of the car.

"It was literally a drive-by. I'm not sure whether it was our cause, or whether it's just because I'm a hippy chick with natty dreadlocks."

Ms Simpson has dealt with blisters, hypothermia, emotional and physical exhaustion during the past seven weeks - but this was the first threat of a gunshot wound.

The former Greenpeace worker is on a travelling protest from Auckland to the West Coast with her friend Mick France, 43, to oppose a coal mine in Happy Valley.

She has walked the entire way, while Mr France drives the support vehicle. Their trip had been peaceful until Friday, she said.

Their protest banner was also swiped by a group of "young, drunk people" in a white ute while they camped in in a lookout area on the Pahiatua Track on Sunday, Ms Simpson said.

Speaking from Hamilton, Ms Simpson's mother, Tui Allen, said her daughter and Mr France did not deserve this kind of aggressive behaviour.

"They are two idealistic young people, kind of radical, and trying to imagine an ideal world where everyone is perfect and doesn't shoot each other."

But standing up publicly for a cause was bound to bring some negative response, Ms Allen said.

"You can't walk the country and do something like this without getting up some people's noses."

The route Ms Simpson and Mr France had taken had not been easy - tough conditions on the Desert Road had left fellow walkers battling hypothermia, Ms Allen said.

"Before she started, Heather was an average kind of plump 22-year- old, but now she's as skinny as a rake."

But Ms Simpson said the pair's resolve had been hardened by the near-death experience.

"Nothing is going to stop us now. I am going to get there if I die trying.

"There are people out there who are going to be hostile - this just makes us more careful and alert. "It was a surprise to get it in Palmerston North. But I would not let that reflect on the whole place."

Anyone with information about the stolen banner should contact Palmerston North city councillor Chris Teo-Sherrell. The walkers would like it back.