Protesters take fight against government and media to streets of Christchurch

Friday, 18 February 2022

Anti-vaccine mandate protesters took their arguments to the streets of Christchurch on Friday, marching - though in small number - on the central police headquarters and the offices of several media organisations.

As protests outside Parliament show little sign of abating, in Christchurch three separate small-scale groups of protesters opposed to the Government’s Covid-19 health mandates took to the city’s streets and public spaces to air their opinions.

Opposing the nationwide public health measures designed to help prevent Covid surging through the country, the groups – not directly connected to each other – voiced their views at several civic institutions, including a university, the city’s police headquarters and The Press offices.

One group of about 200 protesters from the Freedom and Rights Coalition marched through the grounds of the University of Canterbury on Friday morning.

Protesters gathered at the University of Canterbury over the introduction of the vaccine mandate.

The university’s vaccine mandate takes effect from Monday, requiring students, staff and visitors accessing the campus to be fully vaccinated.

A spokesperson said the University of Canterbury respected the lawful right to peaceful protest.

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Protesters took aim at the media, police and politicians as they took their argument to the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct – which houses the police headquarters – in central Christchurch.

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Protesters outside the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct – which houses the police headquarters – in central Christchurch.

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White supremacist Philip Arps, right, shakes hands with a man who had performed a haka at a protest outside the police headquarters in Christchurch.

Elsewhere, about 60 people gathered outside Christchurch’s Justice and Emergency Services Precinct on Lichfield St, listening on as several of the group addressed the small crowd through a speaker system.

And about 80 protesters remain camped out in tents in the city’s Cranmer Sq as they hold a sit-in anti-vaccine mandate protest from their makeshift camp.

Protest organiser Colin Wightman speaking outside The Press building in Christchurch.

Outside the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct, which houses the city’s main police station, many among the mainly middle-aged crowd held anti-media and anti-police signs.

Amid a tense atmosphere, four protesters approached a Stuff photographer and demanded any photos be deleted.

A small group of protesters gathered outside The Press building in Christchurch to direct their anger at the media.

Among the group was Kyle Chapman, a former National Front leader who was previously arrested for allegedly breaching level 4 lockdown rules.

And white supremacist Philip Arps, who is on trial for allegedly using obscene language to insult, swear at and offend three of his probation officers, and allegedly breaching his release conditions – and showed up at Christchurch District Court on Friday with a New Zealand flag draped over his shoulders and no mask – was also among the number, jeering at reporters for wearing masks.

Some took umbrage with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Organisers behind the protests at Christchurch’s police station and outside media organisations advertised their “Black Friday protest” through a poster circulated on social media.

Far-Right figure Kyle Chapman protesting outside the Christchurch Central police station on Friday.

The poster depicted a disturbing image of a public hanging in 1946 after World War II, which they claimed was of a dozen Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg in Germany, accompanied by a caption saying: “War and crimes against humanity victims.”

The photo actually shows executions in Kiev, at the time part of the Soviet Union and now the capital of Ukraine.

According to RNZ, the image is a popular meme online among far-Right groups, and is often accompanied by a caption: “Photograph of Hangings at Nuremberg, Germany. Members of the Media, who lied and misled the German People were executed, right along with Medical Doctors and Nurses who participated in medical experiments using living people as guinea pigs”.

Organiser Colin Wightman dismissed concerns the poster was insensitive to holocaust survivors or that it intimated a direct threat to media.

However, he did compare current conditions under the New Zealand Government to Nazi Germany.

He said the gruesome photo depicted “a day of reckoning” for media bosses.

When asked what that reckoning would be, he suggested imprisonment.

His message, along with signs that included slogans linking the New Zealand media to genocide, caused anger among some passers-by, including one young man who was visibly upset.

The man shouted: “They killed six million of my people, you have no idea”, and branded the protesters “indoctrinated sheep”.

At about 2pm a group of about 50 protesters moved on to the Christchurch headquarters of Stuff – only after having to ask directions from a Stuff journalist – where Wightman claimed media were fear-mongering about Covid-19.

During the protest other various outlandish and wildly inaccurate claims were voiced – including one person in the crowd saying the vaccine was actually an injection of HIV – while another tried to justify some of their arguments using common law from the Middle Ages in England.

Among those involved was Destiny Church pastor Derek Tait, who has been leading the fight against Government Covid-19 measures in Christchurch.

After returning from the Wellington protests Tait agreed to speak at both the Black Friday and University of Canterbury protest, although he made it clear Destiny’s Church was not affiliated to either event.

Tait called for the Government to end mandates on March 1.

More protests are expected in the city over the weekend.