Israeli player fair game - protesters

John Minto among protesters in court

Protest outside ASB Classic tennis tournament

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Protesters and police face off outside the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland.

VETERAN PROTESTER: John Minto.

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Anti-Israeli protesters who chanted outside the ASB Tennis Classic saw Israeli player Shahar Peer as representing her country, despite tennis fans' assertion she only represented herself.

Veteran protester John Minto and seven others are currently appearing in the Auckland District Court defending two charges each of disorderly behaviour and obstructing police .

The group Global Peace and Justice Auckland held Free Palestine banners, chanted "blood on your hands" and "Shahar Peer out", outside the Israeli 21-year-old's games at the ASB Tennis Classic in January.

Footage of the protest was played to the court showing the eventual arrest of four members after police warned the group to stop using loudhailers and PA systems.

Tennis fan Hamish Linklater, chairman of the board of trustees of the West Area Tennis Trust, was shown threatening to get 100 tennis fans from the stadium to move the protesters along if police did not act.

Linklater testified in court today that the noise was affecting the enjoyment of those in the stadium and he was "deadly serious" about his threat.

Peer represented herself, not her country, and should have been left alone, he said.

Minto, representing himself in court, put it to Linklater that the general public perceived players such as Michael Campbell in golf and Susan Devoy in squash as representing New Zealand, even if, technically, they were operating alone.

Other protesters were shown on video defending the decision to protest Peer's involvement saying she had served in the Israeli army.

The hearing before Judge Roy Wade continues this afternoon.

- © Fairfax NZ News