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Police say 35,000 people are outside parliament
Police estimate there are 35,000 protestors gathered outside parliament.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, addressed the crowd:
Kia ora, my sovereign peoples. Aotearoa is our kingdom. We must protect it.
We’ve got a message for this Government. Kill the bill. Kill the bill.
We are inspiring indigenous peoples around the world to rise up.
The whole world is watching.
Key events
A Guardian reader named Daniel is at the hīkoi. He writes:
The largest protest I have ever seen in Aotearoa New Zealand! It has been fantastic to see the unity of New Zealanders when one political party tries to sow division.
There has been singing, dancing, hakas, and waiatas! A great peaceful environment with people from all round the country.
I think this has really demonstrated to David Seymour that the people disagree with his bill and to Christopher Luxon that they are disappointed he let it get this far.
Eva Corlett
The lead organiser of the protest, Eru Kapa-Kingi told the crowd, “the Māori nation has been born today”.
He expressed his pride in the hīkoi and said it would not end today.
“It’s up to us whether this moment dissipates after today, or whether it lives forever.”
“Every single one of you who joined this march today, I hope you realise what you have committed to today. You have committed to a future where we revert back to the reality of our rangatira [chiefs].
“I hope you all realise in this moment committed to a journey of liberation, to a future where we are the captains of our own waka [canoe] where we shape our own destinies.”
Eva Corlett
More now on Seymour’s short-lived appearance before the enormous crowd a short while ago:
Act leader David Seymour, the architect of the Treaty Principles Bill, briefly appeared before the crowd surrounded by police. He lasted minutes before the crowd let out a roaring chant of “kill the bill”.
Organisers are reminding people to drink water and eat. It is overcast but muggy and people are struggling to move through the giant crowds. Some are offering free cookies and handing out sunblock.
David Seymour, whose minor libertarian Act party introduced the bill that the hīkoi is protesting against, appeared briefly outside parliament, where he was booed loudly by the crowd, the New Zealand Herald reports.
The crowd also chanted “Kill the bill”.
Te Pāti Māori (the Māori Party) co-leader Rawiri Waititi told Seymour “You’re goddamn right I told you not to come,” according to local media.
Eva Corlett
Wellingtonian Alice Soper tells the Guardian she has never seen a crowd this size at Parliament.
“We were stopped on Lambton Quay, the hīkoi couldn’t go any further, I have never in my life a march that big – I was born and raised [here] and I have never seen a march not be able to get on to parliament, that speaks for itself.”
Soper said while much of the protest was directed at the bill, it was also about the broad sweep of government policies that risk rolling back Māori rights, including disestablishing the Māori health authority.
“The current government has traded its relationship to Māori, in order to get access to power. We have seen so many attacks on Māori and its not just about Māori, its about all of us.”
This is Helen Sullivan taking over our live coverage of the hīkoi at Aotearoa New Zealand’s parliament in Wellington.
Are you at the protests? Write to me at helen.sullivan@theguardian.com and share your experience.
Police say 35,000 people are outside parliament
Police estimate there are 35,000 protestors gathered outside parliament.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, addressed the crowd:
Kia ora, my sovereign peoples. Aotearoa is our kingdom. We must protect it.
We’ve got a message for this Government. Kill the bill. Kill the bill.
We are inspiring indigenous peoples around the world to rise up.
The whole world is watching.
Reportage from Eva Corlett earlier this year on the impact of proposed legislative changes on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Māori population…
Leading Māori figures from across Aotearoa New Zealand have sounded the alarm over the government’s changes to policies that affect Māori, after analysis by the Guardian highlighted the far-reaching scope of the proposals.
The policy shifts proposed by the rightwing coalition have been described by experts as “chilling” and “dangerous” and have created a “deeply fractured” relationship between Māori and the crown, or ruling authorities.
Eva Corlett
The hīkoi has reached parliament, filling the grounds and swelling out into the surrounding roads and streets.
It is shoulder to shoulder, with people and flags stretching as far as the eye can see in every direction. The notorious Wellington wind is whipping the flags high, their flicks and pops adding to the cacophony.
Some protestors are sitting atop bus shelters, others are lining the steps of the Supreme Court, and climbing tree branches to get a better vantage point across the crowds.
The atmosphere is jovial and energised, as waves of groups start waiata (song) and haka.
Protests in London too…
It was 5 degrees, dark, wet on a Monday night, but that didn’t stop hundreds Kiwis turning up outside NZ’s high commission here in London.
The world is quite literally watching Aotearoa today. 🖤❤️🤍 #toitutetiriti pic.twitter.com/AmgSMcQ3DP
— Bayden Harris (@BaydenHarris) November 18, 2024
What is the treaty principles bill?
More from the indefatigable Eva Corlett – a background explainer on the Treaty Principles Bill.
Since New Zealand’s right-wing coalition government took office a year ago, its policy direction for Māori has dominated headlines, but one proposal in particular has faced strident backlash: the Treaty Principles Bill.
The bill was introduced by the minor libertarian Act party to parliament on Thursday. It seeks to radically alter the way the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document and which upholds Māori rights, is interpreted.
What is the bill proposing and why has it prompted widespread criticism?
Incredible scenes coming from the Hīkoi Mō Te Tiriti in Pōneke, Wellington today!
Tens of thousands of protestors are showing up to stand against David Seymour’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill.
Kia kaha 🖤🤍♥️ pic.twitter.com/fhKIQ9NEZE
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) November 18, 2024
Wellington man Greg, who is pākeha, said he was supporting the hīkoi on behalf of his partner, who is Māori and couldn’t attend.
“I really respect the treaty…I don’t agree with the direction this government has gone. I don’t think this bill is the right thing for the country, or for Māori, and I want to show up and be counted as one of the voices that stands for what I think is right.”
He said the hīkoi was feeling joyful and peaceful.
Three friends – Sandy, Wendy and Paula, said the last time they had experienced something similar to this protest was during the historic 1981 Springbok Tour protests.
“I think it is very divisive what this government is doing and I think it shows what a weak prime minister [Christopher] Luxon is, by allowing [the bill] to go ahead to the stage it is,” Sandy said.
But the tone of this protest was different, Wendy said.
“It’s absolutely fantastic, there are flags everywhere and people everywhere and children – it’s a groundswell I think.”
There was a “unifying vibe” and people were looking out for each other, Paula said.
I say this without a word of exaggeration. I’ve never seen Wellington so packed! The atmosphere at Waitangi Park is incredible. Waitangi park, surrounding areas, entire waterfront up to train station packed.
He waka eke noa, kia eke panuku, kia eke Tangaroa.#ToitūTeTiriti pic.twitter.com/3LkutWWZmh
— Ernest Cunningham (@gingofthesouth) November 18, 2024
Hello and welcome
A nine-day hīkoi – a protest march – the length of the North Island will conclude in Aotearoa New Zealand’s capital on Tuesday, with up to 50,000 demonstrators expected to descend on the nation’s parliament, opposing a controversial bill that they say seek to dilute the rights of the Māori.
The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between 500 Māori chiefs and the British Crown and is the foundational document in upholding Māori rights in New Zealand.
The Treaty Principles bill, currently before parliament, would dramatically alter the way that treaty is interpreted, with critics arguing it would strip away Māori rights and increase anti-Māori rhetoric.
The bill is almost certain to fail – it does not have widespread support inside the parliament – but even the symbolic endeavour to undermine Maori rights is being fiercely opposed.
The introduction of the bill on the floor of parliament was met with an extraordinary haka protest.
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke led a haka in Parliament to oppose a bill undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This bill seeks to reinterpret New Zealand’s founding treaty, threatening Māori sovereignty. Such attacks on Indigenous rights have no place in 2024.
Women’s rage is powerful 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/fxeXitcuhU— Dr Charlotte Proudman (@DrProudman) November 16, 2024
Tuesday’s protest will march from the – appositely named – Waitangi Park to parliament. Prominent Tuesday morning at the waterfront park is the red, white and black of the tino rangatiratanga flag – the national Māori flag that has become a prominent symbol of Māori sovereignty.
Protesters carry placards calling on the government to honour the treaty and “kill the bill”.
The Māori Queen, Nga wai hono i te po, has indicated she will be among those protesting.
Eva Corlett is in Wellington at the protest for The Guardian. Her reportage is here:
This is Ben Doherty, blogging one of the largest protests in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history as it unfolds…