{"id":539961,"date":"2022-03-03T19:45:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T19:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=71161"},"modified":"2022-03-03T19:45:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T19:45:52","slug":"how-nzs-parliament-anti-covid-protest-was-brought-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/03\/03\/how-nzs-parliament-anti-covid-protest-was-brought-to-an-end\/","title":{"rendered":"How NZ\u2019s Parliament anti-covid protest was brought to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/authors\/sharon-brettkelly\">Sharon Brettkelly<\/a>, co-host of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/\">RNZ&#8217;s<\/a> The Detail<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>After 23 days, the occupation at Aotearoa New Zealand&#8217;s Parliament was finally <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2022\/03\/02\/nz-parliament-grounds-reclaimed-police-operation-ends-23-day-protest\/\">brought to a chaotic and violent end<\/a>. <\/em><strong>The Detail<\/strong><em> talks to two reporters who were there as it all unfolded.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Torn tents, burnt trees and a scorched lawn were all that remained on Wednesday night of the 23-day protest on Parliament grounds.<\/p>\n<p>That morning, when the operation to clear the occupation began, RNZ\u2019s Charlotte Cook and Stuff\u2019s Thomas Manch had arrived before daybreak.<\/p>\n<p>Even before the first clashes erupted between the police and protesters, there was a sense of tension.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/podcast.radionz.co.nz\/thedetail\/thedetail-20220304-0500-how_the_occupation_at_parliament_was_brought_to_an_end-128.mp3\"><strong>LISTEN TO <em>THE DETAIL<\/em>:<\/strong> End of the Parliament siege<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/podcast.radionz.co.nz\/firstup\/firstup-20220304-0553-wellington_deputy_mayor_on_protestors_searching_for_new_sites-128.mp3\"><span class=\"c-play-controller__title\"><strong>LISTEN TO RNZ <\/strong><\/span><span class=\"c-play-controller__title\"><strong><em>FIRST UP<\/em>:<\/strong> \u2018Pack up and go home\u2019 \u2014 Wellington deputy mayor Sarah Free<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2022\/03\/03\/political-parties-condemn-parliament-protesters-praise-police-actions\/\"><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong> Political parties condemn Parliament protesters, praise police actions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2022\/03\/03\/parliament-protest-aftermath-police-enter-significant-investigation-phase\/\">Parliament protest aftermath \u2013 NZ police enter \u2018significant investigation phase\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=NZ+covid+outbreak\">Other NZ covid outbreak reports<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe had some suspicion that something was going to happen,\u201d says Manch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don&#8217;t get 500 police officers in a city without\u00a0people noticing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For an hour it was quiet, but the protesters seemed agitated.<\/p>\n<p>They knew something was up, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Noticed some signals<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cThey&#8217;d been talking about it on their channels, they&#8217;d noticed some of the signals that we&#8217;d noticed,\u201d says Manch.<\/p>\n<p>Protest security guards were communicating on their walkie-talkies and flashing strobe lights in the faces of the reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then the police helicopter was in the air, that was the start of it, that was the beginning,\u201d says Manch<\/p>\n<p>Cook watched police officers come out of the back of Parliament, march past Lambton Quay and along Stout Street. The protesters were yelling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were upset, they knew something was going to happen but what that\u00a0looked like they weren&#8217;t sure&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/assets\/news_crops\/139346\/eight_col_CC.jpg?1646265910\" alt=\"RNZ's Charlotte Cook\" width=\"720\" height=\"450\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">RNZ&#8217;s Charlotte Cook reporting from the protest at Parliament. Image: Charlotte Cook\/RNZ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There were moments when both Cook and Manch feared for their safety.<\/p>\n<p>Cook was nearly caught in the crossfire when protesters were hurling orange traffic cones at the police.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aggressive agitators<\/strong><br \/>\nManch says aggressive agitators, who were pushed away from the frontline by other protesters, turned on him and the Stuff visual journalist filming it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were mobbed out of the protest site by a group of people who were very angry, very threatening and very aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was when Cook\u00a0watched people standing in front of police cars and throwing whatever objects they could find that she knew the aggression and conflict would escalate.<\/p>\n<p>The clashes continued for more than 14 hours as protesters and riot gear-clad police pushed up against each other again and again.<\/p>\n<p>Manch watched as the police made their way towards Parliament, picking up tents as they went.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey would advance, claim a bunch of the territory, clear it out with a forklift and then they would move again,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Cook says the last 23 days have left her in shock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels like such a distant memory that the Parliament forecourt and grass area were green and luscious &#8212; it was the kind of place you want to take your shoes off and rub your toes in the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2022\/03\/04\/how-nzs-parliament-anti-covid-protest-was-brought-to-an-end\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sharon Brettkelly, co-host of RNZ\u2019s The Detail After 23 days, the occupation at Aotearoa New Zealand\u2019s Parliament was finally brought to a chaotic and violent end. The Detail talks to two reporters who were there as it all unfolded. Torn tents, burnt trees and a scorched lawn were all that remained on Wednesday night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38855,12945,338,304,5,41687,365,387,652,255,39010,358,12,403,1834,42051,13,44633,14,2862,44634,2573,368,33089],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":539962,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539961\/revisions\/539962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}