Wellington [New Zealand], November 15 : Thousands of people have joined a nine-day march to New Zealand's capital, Wellington, to protest a contentious bill that redefines the country's founding agreement between the British and the Indigenous Maori people, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
Approximately 10,000 protesters marched through Rotorua, New Zealand, voicing their opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill. As they made their way south towards the capital, Wellington, they were greeted by hundreds of supporters waving the Maori flag, the New Zealand police said.
The march - or hikoi in the Maori language - is expected to reach Wellington on Tuesday, with participants staging rallies on their passage through towns and cities across the country after the bill passed its first parliamentary reading on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported.
The ACT New Zealand party, a junior partner in the governing centre-right coalition government, introduced the bill last week. The ACT party argues that the rights granted to Indigenous Maori citizens under the treaty should be extended to all New Zealanders, regardless of their ethnic background.
Sharing a post on X on Friday, the party wrote, "We will not allow New Zealanders to be intimidated, shouted down or silenced for expressing a viewpoint others disagree with. Only through debate and civil discussion will we resolve this country's issues and unite all New Zealanders with the same rights and duties."
We will not allow New Zealanders to be intimidated, shouted down or silenced for expressing a viewpoint others disagree with. Only through debate and civil discussion will we resolve this country's issues and unite all New Zealanders with the same rights and duties. pic.twitter.com/gAsW2Pm8UH— ACT New Zealand (@actparty) November 14, 2024
Sharing another post, the party wrote, "Here's what the Maori Party thinks of equal rights and democracy."
}}}}Here’s what the Māori Party thinks of equal rights and democracy. pic.twitter.com/42Ssh2vipK— ACT New Zealand (@actparty) November 14, 2024
The Maori people, who comprise approximately 20 per cent of New Zealand's 5.3 million population, are opposing the new bill that they believe will threaten racial discord and undermine the rights of the country's Indigenous people.
As parliamentarians voted on the bill on Thursday, 22-year-old legislator Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, from the Te Pati Maori party, ripped up a copy of the bill and led her colleagues in a traditional haka dance. Parliament was briefly suspended as people in the gallery joined in, their shouting drowning out debate in the chamber, Al Jazeera reported.
Notably, the Treatry Principles Bill was introduced by the government which seeks to define in law the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The proposed Bill is based on an ACT Party policy as agreed on in its coalition agreement with the National Party, according to New Zealand's Ministry of Justice.
The Bill was introduced on November 7, 2024. The Bill received its first reading on November 14, 2024. The Treaty of Waitangi is a founding document of New Zealand and is fundamental to constitutional arrangements. The Treaty Principles Bill aims to provide an opportunity to build consensus around the place of the Treaty principles in constitutional and legal arrangements. The work on this Bill is being led by the Ministry of Justice.
The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 and was an agreement between the British Crown and a large number of Maori chiefs. Today the Treaty is widely accepted to be a constitutional document that establishes and guides the relationship between the Crown in New Zealand (embodied by our government) and Maori, as per the Ministry of Justice.
The Treaty promised to protect Maori culture and to enable Maori to continue to live in New Zealand as Maori. At the same time, the Treaty gave the Crown the right to govern New Zealand and to represent the interests of all New Zealanders.
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