Occupation Day 13: Police instructed to take zero-tolerance approach to abuse, intimidation, or violence against public

Sunday, 20 February 2022

Day 13 at the protest on Parliament Grounds in Wellington.

What you need to know:

The protest has entered its 13th day, with more than 1000 people, 800 vehicles and 750 tents on site
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster maintains that de-escalation is the right approach
Parliamentary Service is considering building a fence wrapping around the entire Parliamentary complex
A petition calling for those outside Parliament to vacate has now received more than 72,000 signatures.
Victoria University has closed the entire Pipitea campus following reports of abuse towards staff and students from protesters.
National Māori Authority executive chairman Matthew Tukaki has launched an online counterprotest

The protest now has a rubbish removal and sorting service, as the occupation takes on a more permanent air.

Police staff have been instructed to take a zero-tolerance approach to any abuse, intimidation, or violence against members of the public. Anyone abusing or intimidating members of the public should expect to be arrested, removed and face charges.

A police statement released just before 6pm on Sunday said patrols of local businesses had been increased, along with strengthened traffic management around the protest’s perimeter.

The loosely anti-vaccine mandate occupation at Parliament began its 13th day in soggy conditions after a night of heavy rain in Wellington but by mid-afternoon on Sunday the protesters were dancing and chanting in the sun.

Vehicles parked around Parliament swelled to around 2000 on Saturday, with about 800 of those illegally parked.

Police increase their numbers and surround Parliament on Sunday afternoon, after whispers of a “human chain” of protesters.

* Number of protesters' vehicles in vicinity of Parliament nearly doubles in two days

* Parliament protest: New poll shows 30 per cent of Kiwis support anti-mandate protest

Security staff lock the back gates of Parliament on Sunday afternoon.

Police impounded a vehicle on Sunday after a complaint about burnouts. A small number of vehicles were towed from Thorndon Quay, Featherston St and Bowen St on Saturday, and police and council officers ticketed some illegally parked vehicles.

Sky Stadium, which was at capacity late Saturday afternoon, was about half full today.

Police engagement with protest leaders had been “positive” over the weekend, with security and safety being the agreed area of focus.

Day 13 of the anti-mandate protest at Parliament grounds in Wellington.

“In the medium term, we will continue working to free up the networks and infrastructure of the surrounding areas to remove the burden felt by the Wellington public, by bringing the protest back within the parliamentary precinct, and ultimately within the lawful bounds of public protest action, acknowledging this may take some time.”

It was a soggy start to day 13 of the anti-mandate protest at Parliament.

A media statement from the “combined protest groups” sent out at 5.15pm on Sunday said: “At all costs, we must avoid the situation at Parliament Grounds last week, which saw 122 people arrested and many more hurt.”

“Despite formally requesting a meeting over a week ago, and then us putting forward a highly skilled mediator five days ago, the Government still refuses to engage with us,” it reads.

While the protest had been “largely peaceful … it could also have gone the other way altogether”.

“The mood of many highly disaffected protestors would improve dramatically were the Police to agree to drop all charges.”

There was an increased police presence for an hour at 3pm, with officers extending around the back of the Beehive, possibly in reaction to the talk of a human chain going around the area. But by 4.30 many had moved off and the back of Parliament had returned to normal.

There was a growing sense of permanence to the occupation, a reporter on the scene said; people were drilling holes into the bricks of the precinct’s driveway to anchor their tents.

There are food and laundry services, recreational facilities including a “blues lounge” and a kids’ zone, and herbs in planter boxes on the lawn. Hot showers have been set up in bus stop C, one of the Wellington Railway Station’s bus stop.

Protesters kneel in front of Surete du Quebec officers forming an enclosure around blockaded vehicles on Rideau Street, as police aim to end an ongoing protest against Covid-19 measures that has grown into a broader anti-government protest, in Ottawa on Friday.

The day started with a long queue of protesters lining up for a breakfast of sausages and spaghetti at one food stall.

Hay on the ground had stopped most of the bog-like conditions that affected the protest last weekend and protesters laid mats down on the thoroughfares through the makeshift camp to stop them turning into a mud slick.

MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan said a heavy rain warning for Wellington lifted at 7am on Sunday.

Between 1am and 8am, 38.6mm of rain fell at Kelburn, the closest weather station to Parliament.The heaviest rain was in the hour to 4am. There were a few scattered showers remaining, but the skies would clear through the day.

Tents extend into the Victoria University law school grounds and on the concrete outside the National Library, Court of Appeal and Bowen House, where many MPs have their offices.

The occupation inside Parliament Grounds is firmly entrenched, with food and laundry services, recreational facilities including a “blues lounge” and a kids’ zone, and herbs in planter boxes on the lawn in front of the building that houses New Zealand’s legislature.

A fence wrapping around the entire Parliamentary complex is set to be considered, Speaker Trevor Mallard says.

Public access to the gardens – a tourist attraction and favoured commuter walkway – will be dramatically curtailed, in a move akin to tightened airport security after the September 11 attacks in New York, or spectator fencing at world football stadiums.

Coster maintains de-escalation is the answer

As the occupation grows and strengthens, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster is now facing calls for his resignation.

But he maintains that de-escalation is the best way to resolve the stand-off. “This can’t go on forever, very clearly,” he said in an interview on Saturday.

“We have a focus on de-escalating and aiming to constrain and reduce the size of the protest and the impact on the city. If we don’t see success with this strategy, then we will have to look to other things,” he said.

“There would come a point in time when [force] is the only option. But the downside consequences of that, both locally and nationally, would be significant, and that’s something that we would take a high threshold to move to.”

This came after repeated warnings that Police would start towing vehicles from the streets around Parliament. Instead, the number of protesters’ vehicles nearly doubled over two days, from 450 on Wednesday to 800 by Friday.

Police did tow a small number of illegally-parked vehicles from a median strip on Thorndon Quay on the fringes of the protest at about 4pm on Saturday.

Coster was speaking after Canadian police authorities – who have also taken a de-escalation approach to the three-week-long trucker protest on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill – began arresting protesters and towing vehicles.

Authorities continued to push protesters away from downtown, and said they created a 'secured area' there where public assembly is temporarily prohibited.

“We’re in control of the situation on the ground and continue to push forward,” interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell said at a news conference on Friday local time. He said completely uprooting the demonstration as it heads into its fourth weekend “will take time.”

The previous Ottawa police chief, Peter Sloly, was forced to stand down over his handling of the protests.

Counter-protest petition takes off

A Change.org petition calling for those outside Parliament to vacate has now received more than 72,000 signatures. The petition is called 'Tell the Wellington Protestors to Go Home – They are NOT the majority'. The petition describes the protesters as “a disparate group of conspiracy theorists, religious cult members, anti vaxxers, anti mandate believers and flat earthers” and originally aimed to reach 50,0000 signatures, but has now increased the target to 75,000.

Meanwhile, National Māori Authority executive chairman Matthew Tukaki has launched an online counter-protest, encouraging people to use #endtheprotest.

Tukaki said he had been abused by the protesters in Wellington; he knows a 16-year-old school student who’s been abused; and he had heard from a 21-year-old law student who can’t access his car.