New Zealand’s Parliament was on high security today as thousands marched through the capital Wellington for an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protest.

Thousands of people gathered at Civic Square for an anti-lockdown and anti vaccination protest this morning.

The group intended to march to Parliament for what they are describing as a “freedom protest”.

Significant disruptions to the bus services in the capital were expected as buses detoured away from the central business distruct (CBD) to avoid the protest.

Protester ‘bites’ police officer
Meanwhile in Auckland, a police officer was bitten by a protester at the northern boundary as a group blocked traffic for more than an hour.

About 50 protesters arrived from the northern side of the boundary on State Highway 1 at Te Hana.

Traffic in both directions was brought to a halt by the group and some of their vehicles.

Police said they attempted to engage with the group and a number of vehicles were towed in order to clear the roadway.

Officers physically intervened to move protesters off the road and in the process one was bitten by an “as yet unidentified protester”, police said.

“Actions like this are totally avoidable and poses unnecessary risk to our staff who are simply trying do their part in preventing the spread of covid-19,” Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan said in a statement.

Protesters have dispersed and police will keep monitoring the site.

Protest ‘interferes with vaccination efforts’
Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Whātua uri and chief operating officer Antony Thompson said trucks carrying food and medical supplies were being held up unnecessarily, “creating major risks to our communities and whānau of the North”.

He said thoughtless moves like this put whānau in danger and urged members of these groups to think about the impact they were having on those they believed they were trying to protect.

Thompson said protesters were using this as an opportunity to “grandstand their issue”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Five months after Samoa’s April 9 general election the FAST party government finally began its first parliamentary session today.

But it was without the members of the opposition HRPP party, who were shut out by the Speaker, Papalii Lio Masipau.

Papali’i announced a ban yesterday, saying the HRPP was still failing to acknowledge that the FAST party had won the election.

This follows months of legal squabbles between the parties but last month the Court of Appeal declared FAST were the legitimate winners of the election.

This morning the HRPP staged a march near the grounds of Parliament until police stepped in and told people to return to the party offices.

Samoa police had erected a barricade to deter people from approaching the Parliament building.

The opposition leader, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, called the ban from Parliament a ‘sad day for Samoa.’

He said FAST was behaving in a dictatorial manner, according to the Samoa Observer.

Tuilaepa claimed that such an event had never happened when the HRPP was in power.

However, on May 24 Parliament was locked preventing the FAST party from entering for the scheduled opening of Parliament.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz