Wellington City Council has no plans to charge or fine Freedoms & Rights Coalition over protests

Wednesday, 12 January 2022

A group of motorcyclists join the protest on Willis Street in Wellington last month. (Video first published November 2021).

Wellington City Council will not bill or fine the organisers of two large protests in the city after they were given a $14,000 traffic management bill by another council.

Earlier this week, the Christchurch City Council said it sent the The Freedoms & Rights Coalition group, founded by Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki, a $14,117.47 invoice for costs incurred during three protests last year.

The events, which include staging, portaloos, and sound systems, are in breach of a council bylaw and possibly its District Plan, the council said.

Wellington City Council said the group won’t incur any costs as a result of two protests it organised in the capital in November and December.

**READ MORE:

Protesters were led by motorcyclists at an event organised by The Freedoms & Rights Coalition group in November.

* Police and council meet to stamp out illegal Cranmer Square rallies

* Council sends $14,000 traffic management bill to anti-Government protesters

At both protests, crowds marched from Te Ngākau Civic Square to Parliament.

* No arrests after crowd 'generally well behaved' at Wellington protest

Protesters gathered outside Parliament calling for an end to Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates in November.

Both protests, against Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, saw an estimated 1500 to 3000 people march from Te Ngākau Civic Square to Parliament.

Organisers didn’t seek the council’s permission to hold the protests, which blocked streets and caused detours of buses routes, but Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the group didn't necessarily need it.

MacLean said the council hadn’t incurred any costs relating to the two events.

A heavy police presence guarded Parliament at the protest in December.

In theory, people are not supposed to march down streets and block bus routes, without permission from the council, he said.

A crowd at one of several protest events at Christchurch’s Cranmer Square in November in recent months.

“But there is a long history of protest marches in Wellington relating to all sorts of grievances, so we work with police and other agencies to make sure disruption is minimised,” MacLean said.

The November protest, which was the larger of the two, was “small to medium” in size compared with other protests in the capital, MacLean said at the time.

A police spokeswoman said police hadn’t laid any charges in relation to either event in Wellington and didn’t anticipate doing so.

At the time police said the groups were generally well-behaved and largely peaceful.

Following the November protest, when Wellington was in alert level 2, police said it was disappointing protesters chose to ignore alert level requirements.

Under level 2, events were allowed to go ahead only if physical distancing of 1-metre was applied.

Water and tennis balls, some with violent messages about Government ministers, including a specific death threat towards the Prime Minister, were thrown at media and police at Parliament.

At the December protest, some motorcyclists performed burnouts at the intersection of Bowen St and Lambton Quay, before being moved on by police and a man climbed onto the roof of the first floor beneath the Beehive.

Christchurch City Council said another invoice will be sent to cover costs associated with Saturday’s protest in Hagley Park and on Riccarton Rd.

Destiny Church senior pastor Derek Tait, who organised the protests and church services, said earlier this week he had not received an invoice from the council and would talk to his lawyer before paying any bill sent to him.

Tamaki who was at Saturday’s protest in a possible breach of his bail conditions, said in a text message via a spokeswoman that he was not an organiser of the event and encouraged Stuff to talk to Tait.