The protests were announced by Te Pāti Māori and the Toitū Te Tiriti (Honour the Treaty) movement online on Sunday, saying the action was intended to “prove the might of [the Māori] economy by disconnecting entirely from it”.
Nationwide, protesters were urged to meet up around New Zealand from 6.30am to disrupt key motorway routes.
A protest in Te Awamutu was cancelled. The organisers said in a social media post that the decision had been made since the rohe entered a period of mourning following a car crash on Tuesday night which took the lives of five people.
Several hundred Coromandel protesters, including children from Coromandel Area School, gathered in Thames’ Victoria Park from 11.30am for a march through the town’s CBD at noon.
Coromandel Area School students prepare to march from Victoria Park, Thames. Photo / Al Williams
Ahead of the hīkoi, the crowd gathered to waiata.
Protester Herearoha Skipper said the Coromandel community had gathered “in unity” with all the other rohe across the country.
“We have gathered here ..... to show our disappointment and tairua opposition to what the current coalition has put out in regards to the Treaty, in regards to 7AA, in regards to te reo Māori, the fast track bill and all the other policies that actually impact significantly on Māori.
“We’re absolutely horrified ... after all these years of trying to uplift our communities ... these policies have a huge negative impact in terms of all the hard work ... that those before us have done.”
During the hīkoi, the protesters performed haka and waved flags. Several protesters held signs reading “Stop the Fast Track Bill”, “Hands off our tamariki”, “Toitū Te Tiriti” and “Nōku te whenua”.
The hīkoi came to a halt in front of Coromandel MP Scott Simpson’s office with the crowd gathering in a half circle and performing an emotional haka.
In Hamilton, hundreds gathered at 7.15am at Kirikiriroa Marae. More were parking near the University of Waikato, where shuttles were picking up protesters to bring them to the marae.
Home-made signs read “For our mokopuna”, “Pakeha 4 Te Tiriti” and “We all are Treaty people” with the crowd chanting “Justice for all iwi”.
The last leg of the march was led by children who came with their whānau. One child carried a sign that read, “I am the future”.
Protester Winnie Rawiri-King said she and her children were up at 5.30am to attend the hīkoi.
”They saw the signs and the flags in the dining room and they were excited to come.”
Rawiri-King said the protest was full of “good wairua”.
Te Pāti Māori supporters march from Kiririroa Marae to Waikato University in Hamilton. Photo / Mike Scott
”Everyone is here for happy reasons. It’s very peaceful,” Rawiri-King said.
She said she was protesting for her children.
”For a better future for my mokopuna, ensuring my children know who they are and where they come from.”
National Urban Māori Authority chair Lady Tureiti Moxon, spokesperson for the protest in Hamilton, led the walk from Kirikiriroa Marae to Waikato University.
The crowd of more than 1000 people headed up Wairere Drive to Clyde St.
“It is clear this Government has neglected its legal obligation to consult meaningfully with Māori on Treaty issues despite having a mandate to do so,” Moxon said.
Lady Tureiti Moxon with the team about to leave Kirikiroa Marae to join the countrywide protests. Photo / National Māori Authority
“We are very concerned. We have people all over the country that share this sentiment. We want this Government to listen to the people - Māori want to live as Māori,” Moxon said.
“They’re very concerned about the policies, especially the way Te Tiriti is being disregarded by the Government, yet they’re continuing on this trajectory.”
Moxon said key concerns circled around tamariki, 7AA, disestablishment of Māori wards, Te Aka Whai Ora and inequities in health and numbers of people living in poverty.
“We do not want the Government to tell us what is right - what we want is Tino Rangatiratanga over our lives.
“I hope there is something in this Budget that shows that they care about the people,” she said.
Protest action in Taupō. Photo / Milly Fullick
“The call is out to everybody to join us today - to Māori and Pākehā - everyone to come together in unity.”
A man giving instructions to the crowd reminded people the protest was a “peaceful activation, respectful, mokopuna focused, mokopuna friendly”.
”We are kaitiaki. We are the whenua. We are the mokopuna of our ancestors. We have a duty today.”
Moxon said the atmosphere at Hamilton’s protest was “uplifting”.
”The wairua is flowing. This is a march, a protest, a hīkoi of peace.”
Matutaera Herangi said today’s protest was not a protest but an activation.
”This is to join together to unite as one. It’s about what we can do to make it work for everyone including us. What works for us will work for everyone.”
Te Pāti Māori supporters marched from Kiririroa Marae to Waikato University in Hamilton. Photo / Mike Scott
Moxon, in speaking to the crowd at the Pā, addressed several reasons for the protest, including the Māori wards, Child Protection Act and the school lunches programme.
She said the coalition Government needed to keep the Māori Health Authority.
”With its disestablishment, we have been put back into the same system that has failed us.”
The dissolution of Māori Wards, Moxon said, denied Māori a voice at the table. She continued saying the cuts to school lunches were “cruel” and relegating te reo to “second place” demonstrated “institutional racism”.
”We must tell this Government that its racist policies cannot go on.”
The Hamilton protest was also attended by Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke.
Meanwhile, in Taupō around 200 people have taken part in the hikoī which moved along one lane of Lake Terrace towards the town’s lakefront.
After arriving at Te Ātea, children and rangatahi performed a haka and speeches were given, mostly in te reo.
Taupō's protest organiser, Meriana Taputu is speaking to the crowd saying: ”Educate yourselves, your whānau, your hapū and your iwi.
”Since the election ... they have continuously, in your face, every day, eroded tangata whenua ... How can you manifest your Tino rangatiratanga? ... It starts today if it hasn’t started already.”
