New Zealand: Thousands protest against Maori treaty bill outside Parliament

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders rallied in front of parliament on Tuesday, in one of the country's largest ever protests to oppose a bill which opponents say seeks to dilute Maori rights and threatens to set race relations back decades.

Massive crowds, estimated by police at 42,000, gathered at parliament, where the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced earlier this month by legislators who want to reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty signed between the British and Indigenous Maori.

Member of parliament and Te Pati Maori co-leader Rawiri Waititi addressed protesters, saying that “No government, no law has the right to debate rangatiratanga (chieftainship).” Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that “there’s a strong depth of emotion on all sides” of the debate, but that the bill “won’t become law.”

The bill reinterprets clauses in the Treaty of Waitangi, which was first signed in 1840 and laid down how the two parties agreed to govern. The interpretation of clauses in the document continues to guide the country’s legislation and policy.

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