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Download AudioA Te Karere reporter who covered yesterday’s parliament riot says Māori were pushed into the front line, but it was in no way a Māori protest.
Te Okiwa McLean says the peaceful and festive vibe of the early days of the protest went up in smoke yesterday as hundreds of police cleared parliament grounds and the surrounding streets of hardcore of occupiers.
It was a protest of mixed messages, with Donald Trump and Canadian flags and white supremacist symbols alongside the Tino Rangatiratanga and Te Whakaputanga flags.
“Our people are used as pawns, they are chucked up at the front line, and the ones standing in the back saying ‘hold the line, hold the line’ – we all know who those ones are. Ko rātou nga mea o tauiwi – they are the ones pushing the messages, and our people are gullible and they are none the wiser as to what they are protesting for,” Mr McLean says.
There were 87 arrests at yesterday’s protest, and seven police officers required hospital treatment.
Meanwhile, diggers and trucks were on Parliament grounds today helping to clear away the tonnes of rubbish left by the 23-day occupation.
There was also a heightened police presence.
Some of the protest vehicles have moved on to the Mirimar Peninsula near the long running Shelly Bay occupation.
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