Fires and clashes break out at New Zealand parliament as police move in to clear protest

Fires burned across parliament grounds, and violent clashes broke out between protesters and police at an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration on New Zealand’s parliament grounds, in extraordinary and chaotic scenes rarely seen in the country.

After nearly four weeks of impasse between the protesters and police at parliament, hundreds of officers in riot gear stormed the occupation on Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon had gained significant ground, tearing down tents, towing vehicles and making 38 arrests. The police said protesters used fire extinguishers, paint-filled projectiles, homemade plywood shields and pitchforks as weapons and a cord was set up as a trip wire.

Speaking at parliament today, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said “the police expected there would be hostility, resistance and violence … while they had planned for it, it is another thing entirely to witness it.”

She said a number of police officers had been injured, and the fires had destroyed, among other things, a children’s playground which is open to the public on parliament grounds. “I was both angry and also deeply saddened to see parliament, your parliament, our parliament desecrated in that way,” she said.

“There are words, [but] I cannot use them in this environment for what I saw today. I felt the same anger that I know many New Zealanders would have felt witnessing the hurling of basically [any] weapons that people were able to get their hands – LPG (gas) bottles thrown onto flames … cobblestones being hurled at police”

Multiple fires blazed on the forecourt, including one under a public playground – black smoke plumed into the air and explosions could be heard popping from the blaze, as sirens rang out and police demanded that people clear the area immediately. News website Stuff reported that protesters were throwing whatever they could find into the blaze, including gas bottles, mattresses and rubbish bins.

“In the last week, we have seen a changing mix in the make up of the crowd, in particular we have become concerned that those with good intentions have become outnumbered by those with a willingness to use violence to affect their means,” police commissioner Andrew Coster said.

The protest, which is in its 23rd day on parliament’s grounds, began as an objection to the government’s temporary vaccine mandates for some parts of the workforce but has since become a vector for a range of disparate complaints including anti-vaccine disinformation, QAnon-style conspiracies, and racist and violent rhetoric. Smaller copy-cat protests have sprouted up across the country, including in Christchurch, Nelson and Auckland.

Meanwhile, the Māori king and iwi leaders called on those involved to go home and stop abusing the environment, people and sacred sites.

For the first time since the protests began, Māori leaders have come together to publicly denounce the violence exhibited at the occupation site which has included verbal attacks on members of the public; the call for the execution of journalists, politicians and health officials; the release of human waste into the sea and the damage to both public and private property.

The spokeperson for the Māori King, Rahui Papa, said while the Kiingitanga movement supports the right to protest, it was time protesters started “heading home and looking after their whānau”.

“We do have some sympathy and empathy towards those that have lost their jobs and towards those that are actually feeling the pinch,” Papa said, adding that the Kiingitanga wants all communities to support whānau during these “trying times” to foster unity, as the pandemic evolves.

King Tūheitia is a strong advocate of the Covid-19 response, Papa said, and the Kiingitanga movement has not thrown its weight behind the protests, despite some rumours saying otherwise.

“Right from the get go, the King put out an unequivocal statement, saying the health and well being of whānau is paramount. We took from the examples of [Princess] Te Puea in the Spanish flu epidemic ….[who said] if vaccines had been prominent in her time, she would have absolutely put out the call for people to be vaccinated.”

Wellington’s mana whenua (those who have customary rights over the territory), Taranaki Whānui, said the protesters are flagrantly dishonouring tikanga (customs) and the iwi wants a peaceful resolution.

“We’ve seen the desecration of our whenua [land], we’ve seen the desecration of our moana [sea], and we’ve seen people come through the back door of our ancestral whare [building], of our marae [sacred site], trying to serve trespass notices on the people who actually manage and work there,” said its chair Kara Puketapu-Dentice.

“People have also smashed out windows at our new office and we’ve seen people abuse our elderly people and children who are just going about their daily business in our city.”

On Monday morning, a Te Kahu o te Raukura – a cloak or form of cultural protection -was laid in a dawn ceremony at Pipitea Marae, which is a short walk from parliament.

The laying of the cloak is to uphold peace, honour and goodwill, which Puketapu-Dentice said has not been displayed in the past few weeks.

Puketapu-Dentice understands why so many Māori are at the protest, and attributes this to a long history of grievances against the Crown, and a “deep-seated level of mistrust of government”, but it is time for the protesters to go home, he said.

“We’re not going to unify and heal whilst we’re on parliament grounds or blocking the streets of Wellington. The healing needs to happen back at home. The healing needs to happen back in our communities. The healing needs to happen back with our whānau.”

In Auckland, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, said it did not support protest actions against vaccination and mandates and wants the occupation at Auckland’s domain brought to a swift end. “These actions are in direct opposition to the pathway we have chosen as leaders of our people.”

Its chair, Marama Royal said: “while we understand very deeply that protest action is sometimes necessary, we do not believe this is the time or place for activity that will only increase the risk of spreading infection and misinformation”.