Hundreds of people protesting against New Zealand’s vaccination mandates on the lawns of the distinctive ‘Beehive’ parliament entered their seventh day of demonstration on Monday, ignoring repeated calls by the police to leave and unperturbed by drenching rain over the weekend.
Claiming inspiration from truckers’ anti-vaccine mandate demonstrations in Canada, the protests started as a stand against vaccine mandates but now have been joined by groups calling for an end to COVID-19 restrictions, rejecting vaccinations, as well as calling attention to other social issues like censorship and rights of the ethnic Maori community. At the protests’ peak, thousands of demonstrators were estimated to be involved.
Speaking about the protests, New Zealand’s prime minister said they had “moved beyond sharing a view to intimidation and harassment of the people around central Wellington”. Police said officers will continue to be highly visible in and around parliament grounds to provide reassurance for all.
A country of five million people, New Zealand has some of the lowest COVID-19 numbers in the world, largely due tough coronavirus border curbs and social restrictions. Daily Omicron variant cases have been rising, however, nearly touching 1,000 on Monday, as some domestic restrictions were eased this month.
