New Zealand’s prime minister warned on Monday that protesters opposing coronavirus requirements were employing “intimidation and harassment,” as officials appeared to adopt a stronger stance toward the convoy of activists that has been causing havoc in Wellington for nearly a week.
Police first allowed protestors to put up tents and sleep on the grounds of New Zealand’s Parliament before arresting 122 people on Thursday and then reversing their decision. The demonstration dwindled to a few hundred people last week before swelling to roughly 3,000 people over the weekend.
In an interview with reporters, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hinted at the authorities’ waning patience.
‘I very obviously have a perspective on the demonstrators and the manner in which they have conducted their demonstration because it has progressed beyond sharing a viewpoint to intimidation and harassment of people in central Wellington,’ she said. ‘That is not acceptable.’
Last week, Parliament Speaker Trevor Mallard sought to make the demonstrators uncomfortable by turning on lawn sprinklers and blasting out decades-old Barry Manilow tunes as well as the 1990s classic ‘Macarena’ on a loop.
Post Your Comments