With the Freedom and Rights Coalition set to march on parliament and stage a mock trial, Andy Foster says he’s not expecting a repeat of the occupation. 

Demonstrators are gathering this morning in Wellington for a protest under the banner “Let’s Get NZ Back Again”, with a march to parliament culminating in a promised “people’s court” and an expected announcement of electoral plans from organiser Brian Tamaki. 

“You have the right to make your point, but please do it respecting that not everybody’s going to agree with you,” is the message from the Wellington mayor, Andy Foster, to those taking part. “Your right to express yourself also comes with responsibility. And the responsibility is to try not to undermine people’s businesses and make people feel unsafe. Those things that are important, too.”

Today’s event, organised by the Freedom and Rights Coalition, founded by Tamaki and his Destiny Church, comes six months after the 23-day occupation of parliament grounds, which ended in flames and violence. As then, the demonstration has begun with convoys converging from either end of the country. Tamaki says there is no plan for another occupation, but police have closed roads, installed concrete barriers, issued warnings and ramped up numbers to forestall any repeat. 

The promised centrepieces of the event are a “people’s court” in which the government will be tried, according to Freedom and Rights Coalition promotion, for “crimes against humanity”. A “mass parliament clean out” has also been pledged by the group, and MPs will be urged to pass a vote of no-confidence in the government and thereby “force a snap election” – a lofty ambition, given that no parliamentary member supported, or even addressed, protesters at the occupation, and the government has a majority of MPs in the house. Tamaki is also expected to announce the parties with whom he has reached “firm verbal agreements” to form an “umbrella movement” – modelled on Jim Anderton’s Alliance structure – to contest the next election. 

Foster told The Spinoff he was not overly alarmed by the staging of mock trials. “You know, there’s a lot of hyperbole which goes on in our community all the time, from all sorts of speeches, where people exaggerate things and have a go at other people because they don’t agree with them for some reason,” he said. “For me, it’s just how can we bring people together, instead of pushing people apart? You know, we see what happens in the United States, where you’ve got deeper and deeper divisions between two sides of the community. That’s really, really bad for any society.”

Protests run by Destiny Church aligned groups “are usually pretty organised and disciplined and tend to stick to a script”, said Foster. “Hopefully that’s what the case is. It’s some of the others who might be a little less inclined to go off on a different tangent.” The extremity of individuals and groups present at the occupation six months ago, many of whom have indicated they will attend again today, varies considerably, from those who oppose vaccine mandates through to full-on conspiracy theorists, far-right propagandists and insurrectionists.  

During the occupation, the disruption for residents, businesses and the university went beyond the immediate impact, said Foster. “It had an effect on people’s morale and psyche. And of course, it was on top of all the constraints that were being imposed around Covid.”

Could he have done more, or sooner? “People were saying to me at the time, Mr Mayor, you’ve just got to fix it. I, slightly tongue in cheek, said our budget was coming up and I was going to put in a bid for several LAVs. But it really was, in all seriousness: Hang on, which army do you think I’ve got control of? What resource do you think that I have the ability to call on to move, at its peak, 3,000 people? I don’t think people understood what resources the city council has and what it doesn’t have.”

He added: “I did what I could. I went down – I was I think the only politician who actually did – and talked to people and listened to people and tried to broker something that would dial back the impact of the protest.” He made some progress, he said, such as convincing protesters to move shower facilities away from the Cenotaph. 

Asked if members of parliament should have spoken directly to protesters, Foster said he understood why they might not have wished to “feel like they were being bullied or blackmailed into engaging”. But, he said, “I’m sure there were ways of saying we will work through an intermediary and engage with your people. I think it could have been done.” What was underappreciated, he added, is “that you have clearly got a significant number of people in our community who feel quite disengaged. And I don’t think you can say, ‘we’re a team of five million, except for you guys.’ We’ve got to try and make sure we bridge some of these divides in our community.”

Brian Tamaki channels David and Goliath

“I’m so excited,” said Tamaki on a Facebook livestream last night as he warmed up for a day of protest. “I’m always excited when you know the devil is uncomfortable.” He said the demonstration would not turn violent, and that in spite of “what the media says is violence and confrontation and all sorts of things [going] wrong, well, you know what, that’s not going to happen – in fact it’s going to be all the opposite”.

He went to read passages from the biblical story of David and Goliath, before thanking those that had travelled to Wellington. “Let’s turn up with our shine, let’s turn up with our might, everything’s that’s right, what we’ve got, God is going to bless. The blessing will always overcome the curse and remove it. Every evil that’s already been planned against us, God has confused and taken away.”

The causes trumpeted by Tamaki cover a range of areas, including opposition to remaining vaccine mandates, three waters legislation, the shortcomings of the health system, gang crime and the cost of living. The overarching sentiment is anti-establishment, framed as a “freedom movement”, and routinely laced with misinformation. Tamaki says he wants all the main parties removed from parliament, but nevertheless seeks change via electoral processes. Further to the fringes, some call for the overthrow of the entire system of parliament. 

Speaking at her weekly press conference yesterday, Jacinda Ardern said she was not “entirely sure of the purpose of the protest”, but that it would be “business as usual” at parliament”. She said: “Parliament is a place where over many years we have welcomed peaceful and lawful protesters. What’s most important is that it remains peaceful and lawful.”

When and where: the protest and the counter-protest

The FRC group intends to march from Civic Square at 10am, with the “people’s court” scheduled for 11am at the grounds of parliament. A counter-demonstration, the Pōneke counter-hate rally, is gathering at the Cenotaph, just outside parliament, at 10am.

A “significant police presence” can be expected in the city, said Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell in a statement, with extra officers called in from other districts. Traffic movements will be restricted around Parliament until the protest’s conclusion, with road closures affecting Lambton Quay, lower Molesworth Street, and Kate Sheppard Place.

“While we anticipate the traffic disruption to be minimal, there will be more people in the area, which may cause some delays,” said Parnell. “Police respect the right to lawful protest. However, any behaviour deemed unlawful or that disrupts people from going about their lawful business will not be tolerated.”

He added: “Trespass orders remain in place for some people who were trespassed from parliament earlier this year and we will look to enforce those orders. Police will maintain a high-visibility throughout the city, particularly in the area around parliament grounds. Our focus will be around public safety and ensuring that the disruption to the public is kept to a minimum.”

Foster said he had been briefed by Wellington police but had not been in direct contact with the national commissioner, Andrew Coster. He said he was not intending to monitor the protest closely, but would receive briefings if necessary check in to the operations room in the council offices.

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