Protesters blocked roads in central Auckland this afternoon for the second time in two weeks, marching past the main entrance to the city’s hospital.

The Auckland motorway onramp used by protesters two weeks ago was closed ahead of another rally at the Auckland Domain today.

Aucklanders were warned to prepare for traffic disruption in the central city.

The Brian Tamaki-led Freedom and Rights Coalition gathered at the Domain for a “Kiwi Patriots Day and March” before a crowd of about 1000 marched out onto the streets about 1.30pm.

After passing Auckland City Hospital and over the Grafton Bridge, the protesters turned up Symonds St, before heading down Khyber Pass Road past the closed on-ramp and back towards the domain, where the crowd dispersed.

Auckland City East Area Commander Inspector Jim Wilson said it was a “peaceful protest, which police monitored accordingly”.

He said while there were no arrests or incidents of note, a review phase in the coming weeks will determine if any follow-up action is required.

‘Balancing the safety … with protest’
“The police focus today remained on balancing the safety of all protesters and the public, while acknowledging the right to protest peacefully and lawfully,” he said.

“We note the activity did disrupt traffic in central Auckland where some motorway on and off-ramps were temporarily closed by Waka Kotahi to minimise further disruption.

“These have now reopened and there are no further network issues.

“We would like to thank the members of the public who deferred their travel through the affected areas today and acknowledge those that were inconvenienced.”

Counter-protesters were also in the area today.

Two weeks ago, about 1000 coalition members swarmed onto Auckland’s southern motorway, causing significant problems for traffic.

Ahead of today’s protest, Waka Kotahi closed both the Khyber Pass on/off-ramps — used by the protesters last time — and the Symonds St on/off-ramps, although these have now reopened.

Protesters were demonstrating over a range of anti-government issues, including against public health measures in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

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New Zealand police are investigating an anti-vaccine protest attended by Destiny Church leader pastor Brian Tamaki.

A Destiny Church spokesperson confirmed Tamaki visited Christchurch over the weekend to give the Sunday sermon at the local congregation.

Tamaki also spoke at an event in a central park on Saturday, which the spokesperson described as a “picnic”, not an anti-vaccine mandate protest.

They said once they learnt of Tamaki’s visit, they asked him to speak at Saturday’s event in Hagley Park.

Canterbury police district commander Superintendent John Price said enforcement action may be taken if breaches of covid-19 rules are found.

Tamaki has been charged three times after speaking at large protests in breach of Auckland’s level three rules.

At the time of the first event, gatherings were restricted to a maximum of 10 people. There were around 1000 people at the protests.

Superintendent John Price said: “We encourage individuals attending protests to conduct themselves in a safe manner and adhere to current covid-19 orange restrictions, which are there to ensure the safety of all.”

Destiny Church regularly meets in Christchurch’s Cranmer Square for their weekend sermon.

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An iwi that pastor Brian Tamaki descends from are calling him out to say he is putting Māori communities at risk.

This follows mass protests across the country on Tuesday organised by a “freedom” group set up by Tamaki opposing vaccines and lockdown restrictions.

Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Hikairo located between Kāwhia and Te Awamutu were especially concerned with the number of young tamariki involved in the rallies.

They said Tāmaki, who was one of their own, was asking Māori communities to undermine science, putting their people at risk.

They have now called on the Destiny Church leader to take a whānau-first approach.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health reported 185 new community cases of covid-19 today, including 25 in Waikato and eight in Northland.

Rūnanga chair Susan Turner said because Tamaki was a descendant of their rūnanga it was important to show leadership and encourage the right messaging and approach to combatting covid 19.

She said Tamaki needed to promote scientific advice among whānau, iwi and the wider community to protect each other against the virus.

‘Share the right messages’
“Brian as a member of Ngāti Hikairo, we wanted to encourage him to share the right messages and dispel the rhetoric that he and his followers are saying to our people.

“We want them to follow science and go with the right advice and for our people to be united in this fight against covid,” she said.

The inclusion of mixed messaging related to freedom and self-determination was particularly concerning.

It comes as the rūnanga battles to prevent an outbreak amongst Ngāti Hikairoa whānau.

Turner said it did not reflect a mātauranga Māori approach as tino rangatiratanga should be represented by a collective effort to protect whānau and those most vulnerable.

The current approach from Tamaki was promoting a colonial approach to preserving life and liberty, she said.

“The biggest concern that we’ve got is the fact that they’re giving our people the wrong information.

Tamaki message ‘opposing tikanga’
“Those sentiments simply oppose the whole concept of what we believe is our tikanga which is about protecting ourselves, protecting our whānau and the people that live in our community.

“It’s clear to us that this virus is going to spread, and we need to do all we can to protect our whānau, our rangatahi and our tamariki,” she said.

The rūnanga strongly supported vaccines and said Tamaki carried a Ngāti Hikairo name, and with that came obligations to use his platform to strengthen Māori communities by encouraging whānau to get vaccinated and comply with health restrictions.

A spokesperson for Tamaki rejected RNZ’s request for an interview but said they wished to speak to Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hikairo face-to-face about the issues at hand.

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New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the actions of the Destiny Church leaders in leaving Auckland on the eve of the alert level 3 lockdown were “completely irresponsible”.

Earlier today it was revealed that church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki left Auckland on Saturday night, arriving around midnight in Rotorua, where they told a crowd gathered for the Sunday morning service they had “escaped” to avoid the level 3 lockdown.

It comes as concern mounts over some churches defying lockdown rules and spreading misinformation about the covid-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, Hannah Tamaki posted on Facebook to say the couple were now touring the country and would be in Invercargill this weekend.

In this afternoon’s daily update, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the Tamakis’ actions were “completely irresponsible”.

He said he encouraged everybody to exercise their own judgment.

“Sneaking out of Auckland right at the beginning of a lockdown and having large gatherings of people is simply putting people at risk unnecessarily.”

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said any breaches of the current health order which underpinned alert levels were a wider government responsibility.

The Destiny Church is a Pentecostal fundamentalist Christian movement founded in 1998 by the Tamakis, who continue to serve as visionary and senior ministers. It is based in South Auckland and has a strong Māori and Polynesian membership.

No new community covid cases
RNZ News reports that despite more than 16,000 tests being processed yesterday, no new cases of covid-19 have been found in the community.

Dr Bloomfield said two new cases were found in managed isolation and quarantine, and one of those was a historical case.

Dr Bloomfield had said yesterday that any positive cases that may have resulted from potential exposure to the virus in Auckland last week would start to turn up today.

Hipkins said tests were still coming in, however, and “we’re still in the critical period … we’re not quite there yet” in terms of being certain the latest cluster had not spread further.

As of midnight last night, 9431 people have received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, including over half of New Zealand’s covid-19 frontline border workers, Hipkins said.

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