Tuhoe flag bearers exchanged heated words with a policeman driving a patrol car after they barred his car from leaving Kingston St outside the Auckland District Court.
Bail hearings were held today for the so-called Urewera 16 inside the court while outside about 30 protesters paraded with flagsand placards.
Police prosecutors were ridiculed and taunted as they walked into court and some spat on a patrol car as protesters vented their anger at how the people of Ruatoki had been mistreated during the raids.
Inside the court room many of the 16 charged on firearms charges appeared to have some changes made to their bail conditions.
There was also extensive argument over whether the media were able to film and take photographs in court.
Defence lawyers have been bombarded with 14,000 pages of evidence and are concerned that more could arrive too close to the next hearing on March 5.
Lawyer Annette Sykes said one of her staff members had spent all week photocopying relevant pages to her clients' cases.
It was agreed that police would do their best to disclose all relevant documents by February 18 - Ms Sykes' birthday.
"That would be a great birthday present," Ms Sykes said.
Many of the lawyers criticised media coverage of the case so far, some of which they alleged have been in contempt of court rulings.
Lawyer Charl Hirschfeld said the media coverage has meant his client faces the danger of not being able to get a fair trial. He applied for name suppression for his client, despite his client already being named.
Mr Hirschfeld asked the judge to stop the media using the words "terror" and "terrorism" in the same news story as his client's name.
"Freedom of expression is being used to create fear and loathing in the minds of jurors and we are one year out from a trial," Mr Hirschfeld said.
But Judge Christopher Field said the fact that there was still a year until the trial protected Mr Hirschfeld's client. Judge Field declined his application for suppression and said the horse has already bolted.
Mr Hirschfeld's client still has temporary name suppression to give him an opportunity to appeal.
Three other defendants have name suppression while their lawyers appeal.
A large crowd of supporters were present through out the day to watch the proceedings.
