English family originally thought to be Irish faces deportation orders from New Zealand
A family on holidays in New Zealand that is now facing deportation after a string of disruptive behavior has confirmed they are English and not Irish.
The Johnson family went viral over the weekend after they were filmed allegedly causing a scene and leaving behind copious amounts of litter at Auckland’s Takapuna Beach. The family has also been accused of causing disruptions, including theft and 'dining and dashing,' at several other spots in Auckland.
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Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff said: “What a bunch of a**holes, these guys are trash.”
“You know, I’m married to a Moriarity,” Goff continued, “so I’ve got a particular liking for the Irish, but I don’t have a liking for these sort of people.”
Mayor Goff has directed his council to follow up on the situation and issue fines to the family for the littering.
Many who were present at the Takapuna Beach incident on Sunday believed the family to be from Ireland, even going as far to call the family “Irish scum,” but the Johnsons have now clarified that they are from England.
Speaking exclusively to the New Zealand Herald, the family at the center of the matter says that the entire situation has been misconstrued.
Family member David Johnson said the beach incident began after his son was allegedly slapped by another child when he was on the beach.
"We were sitting there, and a little boy smacked one of the kids. They come over and start calling us loads of names 'go back to Ireland.' We're sitting there having a meal and we're relaxing.”
Johnson continued, "One of the guys got very violent to one of my friends and everybody got around us and we had no choice but to get up and leave and there was a mess there because we couldn't clean it up because we were badly intimidated by a group of people."
Johnson insists there are two sides to every story. “We did leave a mess and they're saying we're gypsies, we're not gypsies. We're English citizens and we were attacked on that beach, we left and they videoed the mess and then put it on Facebook, you see what I mean?"
"We come here for a holiday,” he added. “We are not gypsies, we are not Irish."
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Krista Curnrow, who filmed the now viral video from Takapuna Beach, has a different side to the story: “The young boy in the video came up to our group and emptied his bag of chips on our blanket, before laughing and ran away.”
“Later on, the family packed up and left all their rubbish on the reserve. We were thinking, ‘Are you serious?’”
“We asked them if they were going to pick up their rubbish and they said they weren’t coming back. So I followed them and I said, ‘Hey don’t come to our country and disrespect it like that.’”
“Their response was basically, if we have a problem then we can pick it up and that that’s what the council is for.”
“That’s when they started getting quite violent. About four or five ladies stood around me in a half circle. They were saying they were going to hit me and I started walking backwards to get out of it.”
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John, David’s younger brother who features in a now-viral video, told the New Zealand Herald that he no longer feels comfortable in the country.
"We're here to see the Hobbits ... I've been looking at the Hobbits my whole life, since I'm born, that was originally what our plans was but it's all been f***** up now ... I feel very unwelcome here. I feel like an alien invader, I don't feel happy and I'm far from Irish."
Several thousand have signed a petition to have the family forced out of the country.
On Tuesday, the Johnson family was officially served a deportation notice after demanding free food and again causing a scene at a local Burger King.
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