Around the same time the army was dragging protesters off Bastion Point, the police were getting physical with protesters opposed to New Zealand's close involvement with apartheid South Africa and raids on Pacific Island families.

Violent clashes between police and protesters took place across the country, with protesters arguing New Zealand shouldn't be inviting a whites-only rugby team over from South Africa.

During an economic boom, New Zealand started to welcome Pacific immigrants in the 1950s and 60s – but it all changed in the 70s.

In 1973, amid growing unemployment, the Government scapegoated Pacific Islanders. At the 1975 election, contender Robert Muldoon's National Party ran a television advert which depicted Pacific Islanders as dangerous and said violence would break out because of low employment.

The police then started stopping Pacific Islanders at random, and raiding their homes, to check if they had immigration documents. The goal was to deport as many Pacific Islanders as possible.

But why were police targeting Pasifika? After all, the immigration policy at the time made no secret of its bias towards white immigrants.

In fact, during this time, the majority of overstayers were from Europe or North America – but almost all of the people prosecuted for overstaying were from the Pacific.