A Capital Letter: Parliament protest absolutely positively not my Wellington

The protest at Parliament in Wellington. Photo / George Heard

OPINION:

With images beamed around the world showing a city under siege, the cancellation of CubaDupa and Homegrown, and a cyclone to top it all off, it's a week most Wellingtonians would probably rather forget.

There's no question the capital has seen better days, and an anti-mandate protest turning ugly is the last thing the city needs right now.

There are reports of people being spat on, harassed, and sanitation issues. Protesters have also parked their vehicles in the middle of the road, blocking entire streets while they camp out on Parliament's lawn.

I respect the right to protest. A good protest is part of the fabric of Wellington, but I can't support what this one has turned into.

It's all unfolding in the parliamentary precinct, which is the sensible place to hold a protest since decisions are made in the surrounding buildings by the most powerful people in the country.

But this area of town is already hurting right now, with more people working from home as the Omicron outbreak grows. Workers aren't there to buy coffees or lunch or an afternoon sweet treat.

Add to that an unsanitary protest with no end in sight - and an obvious risk of spreading Covid - it's no wonder that ACC and Shamrock House staff working nearby have been told to work remotely if they can this week.

Students too have been advised to avoid coming into the city, with part of Victoria University's Pipitea campus affected by the protest.

And then there's Metlink, the organisation that runs the city's bus network, forced to remove all bus services from Lambton Interchange with immediate effect at the weekend and put additional detours in place.

Protesters being arrested outside Parliament last week. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The protest also comes at a time when the city is having a bit of an identity crisis, to the point Wellington NZ felt the need to spend $130,000 on a sign that looks like a giant spelling mistake.

The WELL_NGTON sculpture on the waterfront is missing the letter "I" so that one person at a time can stand in the middle of the sign to become the "I" and get their photo taken.

My partner joked: "My one request to the protesters is to make sure they get a snap of themselves in the Wellington sign. It really is unmissable."

Mayor Andy Foster being the "I" in Welington. Photo / Georgina Campbell

Jokes aside, rents and property prices are sky-high, our multi-billion dollar transport project feels like it's moving at glacial pace, and there are safety concerns on the city's tired streets.

So it's extremely unhelpful that this protest has disrupted residents, schools and workplaces and caused people to feel stressed and unsafe.

But these images of Wellington over the past week are not the same images the majority of Wellingtonians have experienced first-hand.

I am one of the many people who were already working from home and haven't clapped eyes on a protester this whole time.

The protest has not deterred me from going into the city on several occasions since it began.

Protesters have gathered on Parliament's grounds. Photo / George Heard

I'm currently experiencing a mixture of guilt about working from home and a desire to live it up before we all have Covid-19 or are isolating as close contacts.

Nor did this weekend's cyclone stop me from having dinner at Floriditas, which just won Best Casual Restaurant at the Cuisine Good Food Awards, followed by a couple of chilled reds at Ascot afterwards.

Then I spent a rainy Sunday afternoon at Te Papa wandering through the Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist exhibition.

There were plenty of other people at all of these venues too.

In a way it's a shame the protesters felt just as resolved to remain at their camp during huge downpours and cooler temperatures driven by a blistering southerly gale.

We got home from the museum to a mass of thick matted ivy peeling off the wall and onto the steps leading up to our house, so I really don't know how the protesters managed.

Protesters and police in a stand-off outside Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

While they may have taken over a part of the city, they have by no means brought the entire city to a standstill.

If you pan out from the close-up shots of police lines, arrests and Parliament's lawn being turned into a haystack, you'll find a lot of people just trying to get on with life in the middle of a pandemic.

We shouldn't lose sight of the Wellington we know and love (despite its faults) that is very much not defined by these protesters who have come to town.

And by the way, 99 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and over in the Capital and Coast district health board's area have had their first vaccine dose and 98 per cent have had their second.

• Senior Wellington journalist Georgina Campbell's fortnightly column looks closely at issues in the capital.