Peace Action Wellington was founded in 2001 from an amalgamation of Marxist, anarchist, anti-western, social-justice and union groups in response to the United States invasion of Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror, following the September 11 attacks.
[2] In March 2003 PAW issued an official statement denouncing the wars, stating that American, British and Australian interests should be targeted in retaliation.
[4] The group has engaged in actions such as blockading venues through peaceful protest and spamming phone, fax and email messages towards local government entities, Trade and Enterprise NZ in addition to private companies.
Included were members Valerie Morse, Kelly Buchanan, David Cooper, Sebastian Henschel, Jesse Hinchey, Hannah Newport-Watson, Urs Singer and Emily Bailey.
Members of this group were charged with the illegal possession of firearms (including military-style semi automatic rifles), Molotov cocktails, improvised explosive devices and ammunition.
In 2007, Peace Action Wellington member Valerie Morse was fined $500 and charged with behaving in an offensive manner after a demonstration at the dawn ceremony for ANZAC Day to protest against the New Zealand military's involvement in Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.
[13][14] The protesters also reportedly brought fake bombs in the form of a beeping black box in an attempt to scare cinema goers into leaving; although the screening went ahead regardless and there was no evacuation.