Anti-vaccination protest group denies weekend vandalism of Levin pharmacies

Robert Atack dressed as the Grim Reaper during a recent protest in Wellington.

A Levin protest group spreading anti-Covid vaccination propaganda has distanced itself from a spate of vandalism targeting local chemists.

Anti-vaccination messages were sprayed on shop windows of three Levin pharmacies sometime on Friday night with black spray paint.

A protest group called Stand In The Park denied responsibility.

Ebony Russell from Unichem Pharmacy in Levin rubs of the graffiti sprayed overnight by anti-vaccination protesters.

Levin protester and Stand In The Park supporter Robert Atack said while they had staged stand-ins at the village green since October last year, with protests targeting everything from 1080, to Covid-19 vaccinations, to Oranga Tamariki, he said the group had nothing to do with the vandalism of the pharmacies in Levin.

"Absolutely not. We only found out about it on Saturday morning," he said.

"Any publicity is good publicity, but that's not us and is turning people against us."

Robert Atack dressed as the Grim Reaper during a recent protest in Wellington.

Unichem Pharmacy, Tararua Pharmacy and Steeds Pharmacy were all targeted by the anti-vaccination vandals, with staff arriving at work to find shop windows had been tagged and then spending time and money having it removed.

Steeds Pharmacy manager Ali Alwash said they had never been targeted before and had to use a mixture of cleaning products to remove the graffiti.

"It is annoying," he said.

The content of each message was a slur against the Covid-19 vaccination programme, which would soon be rolled out to the entire population after initially concentrating on the elderly and at-risk.

The anti-vaccination graffiti that greeted Steeds Pharmacy staff at the weekend..

Atack, who participated in an anti-vaccination protest outside the Beehive dressed as the Grim Reaper recently, said they would continue to meet at the Village Green in Levin each week with home-made protest placards on the grass.

The group had numbered as many as 30.

"We try to be there every weekend," he said.

Vandals targeted the Tararua Pharmacy.