May 25, 2021
Bastion Point Day 506 burned into memory
It's 43 years today since hundreds of police marched on to Takaparawhā Bastion Point to end a 506-day occupation, and activist Hone Harawira says standing beside Ngāti Whātua was one of his proudest moments.
The police action may have briefly restored crown control of the land, but the occupiers won the moral high ground, and the whenua was eventually returned to the hapū in a treaty settlement process that has made it one of the country's richest tribes.
Mr Harawira says standing up to the crown in support of his whanaunga helped form him.
"The friendships made in the line up at the point, getting arrested and going to court with the brothers and the sisters and the uncles and the aunties and the nephews and the nieces is something I will never forget and those people I will never forget," he says.
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