Rugby football--Political aspects--South Africa

Notes provided by John Mercer June-July 2021: Flanked by two police commanders, a protest marshal delivers the message that there will be no further protest action and provides instructions for the now assembled protest contingent to move off in a peaceful and orderly manner, that on this last journey from Mt Eden they should follow the direction of the marshals as we all headed for the dispersal location. On the RHS of the frame is a police bus. The protest contingent starts to collect itself together in preparation for leaving the vicinity of Mount Eden and Eden Park. I assume from a police point of view that it would be preferable that the rugby fans exiting Eden Park at the end of the game were not confronted by any protesters. Particularly as the rugby fans have seen the aerial police (and media) chase above the stadium, the interruption to play resulting from the felling of Gary Knight by a flour bomb dropped from the protest plane and the All Black win. The squad of regular officers (seen Frame#20) nears where I am standing on their way to escort the protest contingent away from the area. The protest marshals paused the march here to gather up stragglers, to remind the marchers to remain orderly and peaceful and to make sure the group stayed together until they arrived at their destination. Oddly enough it was only during the march away from Eden Park while I was photographing the process that I felt personally threatened and wanting to be somewhere else – a group of young Maori guys (not in the march) started asking me what I was doing, who I was and insisting that I come with them! They may well have been part of the group that started lobbing objects at the police line during the confrontation by the church at Walter St. I was feeling alone and vulnerable at this point and started to look around for an escape route. Fortunately, a group of people in the march saw my predicament and asked me to join them (which I did with a feeling of relief) at the same time telling the young men that I was okay because I was with them.