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As hundreds of Otago Polytechnic students gathered for their procession, a man wearing a swastika sparked a police call.
Just before a graduation procession began, police received a report of a man wearing an offensive item: a swastika.
The incident occurred near Dunedin Dental School, where hundreds of Otago Polytechnic students had gathered around 11 a.m. Thursday.
Police received a report of a person standing nearby wearing “swastika bracelets”. The man was on his feet when an officer approached him, Officer Nick Turner said.
He was caught 300 meters in the central business district. The officer discovered that the bracelets were printed on the man’s hoodie, which was also decorated with Mongrel Mob motifs.
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The man was not affiliated with the gang, but was wearing a hoodie for a deceased friend “out of respect”.
“He was not aware that he was offended.”
The man had been the subject of complaints the day before when he filmed himself – wearing the hoodie – at a shopping center in Dunedin, Turner said.
The man, known to police, was told to turn the garment inside out and was given a warning for offensive behaviour.
“He was more or less oblivious to the alarm and concern the swastika would have on normal people.”
Meanwhile, Dunedin Police were on hand in an accident after a bus passenger was struck by a vehicle around 8 p.m. Thursday evening after exiting a bus on Somerville St.
The 32-year-old man suffered a broken leg after being thrown into the windshield of a vehicle driven by a 17-year-old man.
Turner reminded motorists that the speed limit when overtaking a bus was 20 km/h.