About 2,000 protesters upset by the government’s handling of the pandemic gathered at New Zealand’s parliament on Tuesday — but there was no repeat of the occupation six months ago in which protesters camped out on Parliament grounds for more than three weeks. Many of the protesters said they had no intention of trying to stay. And police ensured a repeat was unlikely by closing roads, erecting barricades and barring protesters from bringing structures into Parliament grounds. The earlier demonstration caused significant disturbances in the capital and ended in chaos, as retreating protesters set fire to tents and threw stones at police. This time there was also a counter-protest, with several hundred people gathering in front of Parliament as the main march entered the venue. Both sides shouted abuse, but a line of police kept them physically apart. The previous protest had focused more heavily on opposition to vaccination mandates against COVID-19. The New Zealand government initially required health workers, teachers, police, firefighters and soldiers to be vaccinated. But it has since removed most of those mandates, with the exception of health workers and some others. It also removed vaccination requirements for people to visit shops and bars. Tuesday’s protest was as much about continued dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the crisis as it was about the rules in place, including requiring people to wear masks in stores. Protester Carmen Page said people who had not been vaccinated faced continued discrimination and people lost their jobs and homes as a result of the mandates, which she said amounted to government overreach. “We’re not here to be controlled,” Paige said. “We just want to live our lives freely. We want to work where we want to work, without discrimination.” At the counter-protest, Lynne Maugham said she and her husband had extended their stay in the capital to attend. “I have nothing but respect for the orders, for the vaccinations, for the way the health providers handled the whole thing,” he said. Maugham said the government had not done everything perfectly, but had done a good job overall. “There is no plan for handling a pandemic,” he said. Like many of the protesters opposing the orders and actions of other governments, Mania Hungahunga was a member of a group called the Freedom & Rights Coalition and a member of the Christian fundamentalist Church of Destiny. Hungahunga said every New Zealander had been adversely affected by the orders. He said he had traveled from Auckland to protest but was not planning an occupation. “We’re here for the day, a peaceful day, just to get our message out to the public and the people of Wellington,” he said. Many of the protesters said they hoped Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern would be voted out in next year’s election. Protest leader Brian Tamaki told the crowd that he had formed a new political party to contest the election. Tamaki and his wife, Hannah Tamaki, founded Destiny Church, which they say is the largest M─üori and Pacific Island church movement in New Zealand. Ardern was first elected prime minister in 2017 and her initial response to the pandemic proved hugely popular. Her liberal Labor Party won re-election in 2020 in a landslide of historic proportions. But as the pandemic lingered and the country grappled with new problems, including inflation, Ardern’s popularity waned. Recent polls put the conservative opposition National Party ahead of the Labor Party. Authorities said there were no initial reports of violence or other problems at the protests.
