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March 04, 2022
Riot left to hardcore as occupation mandate waned
Adam Gifford
Posted On March 4, 2022
Download AudioDeputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha estimates as few as 300 hardcore protesters instigated Wednesday’s riot at parliament.
Police arrested 89 people on the day and 11 yesterday, including several who came back to the area looking for another fight.
Forty officers were injured when they were hit by bricks and other objects.
Mr Haumaha says while police are being criticised for the 23 days it took to clear Parliament grounds, earlier arrests and efforts to tow vehicles led to protest numbers swelling to a peak of as many as 8000 people.
Support dropped after some protesters threw excrement on police and tried to occupy marae, and the intervention of mana whenua Te Ātiawa laying a cloak of peace on the area proved decisive.
“When they laid down Te Kahu o te Raukura they were saying to the people ‘you can leave with your honour, you can leave with peace and you can leave with goodwill and take the time to leave’. That message probably got through to those who heard it but those who will never hear any kind of message stayed on because they wanted to stay for the fight, and there were approximately 300 people who were left to carry out that fight,” Mr Haumaha says.
Police are scouring video footage to identify rioters.
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