Police have paid $10,000 in compensation to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa campaign co-ordinator John Minto, after the police watchdog found officers used excessive force against him and unlawfully arrested him at a protest.

The non-confidential payment was received this week and followed negotiations after the Independent Police Conduct Authority ruled on his complaint last year, Minto said.

The protest was on Waitangi Day in 2024, at a Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa demonstration in Lyttelton.

The Authority’s letter to Minto, dated May 2025, concluded “the force used against you and your arrest were both unlawful.”

It found “the officer’s use of pepper spray was excessive and therefore unjustified”, and separately that “your arrest for obstruction was unlawful.”

The Authority said the officer could not have perceived Minto as a real threat and could simply have guided him back.

It identified inconsistencies between the officer’s account and footage of the incident, which led it to doubt the officer’s claimed belief at the time.

Minto was arrested about 30 minutes later by a different officer, accused of obstructing the arrest of another protestor.

The Authority found he had been standing lawfully on the footpath and that there was no case for obstruction.

The Authority considered whether the officer who used the spray should face an assault charge but decided criminal charges were not warranted, partly because Minto had presented some physical resistance.

It said it was open to police to consider an employment process for the officer instead.

The letter recorded that police did not accept its conclusions.

“Police remain of the view that the force used was justified and the arrest lawful,” it said. Police had accepted only that the officer failed to provide appropriate aftercare.

Minto said: “I’m pleased this issue is now resolved but disturbed that even after the IPCA report the police have not accepted responsibility for what in this instance was thuggish behaviour.”

He said: “I’m writing to the Police Minister to ask for legislative change so IPCA findings become legally binding on police.”

The $10,000 will be donated to PSNA to advocate for a one-state solution in the Israel and Palestinian conflict.

Under the model proposed by PSNA, everyone living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea would have equal rights under a democratic constitution protecting ethnic and religious rights.

PSNA says Israel has made a two-state solution impossible by building hundreds of settlements housing more than 700,000 Israelis across the occupied Palestinian Territories.