Mark Freeman
Fifty people braved a wintery southerly wind to take part in Wellington’s first Stop Co-Governance street march on Saturday. The number was down on attendance at the Christchurch and Auckland marches, which had been more than 200 and more than 300 respectively.
Escorted by police, marchers walked through central Wellington chanting “One person, one vote” and “One law for all” and singing the national anthem. Some of their signs’ messages were “Say no! to apartheid,” “Say yes! to one person one vote” and “Co-governance is in the Treaty—Yeah right.”
When they reached Parliament Grounds, the marchers were greeted by a crowd of several hundred Antifa counter-protesters chanting “Go home, racist, go home.” The two groups were separated by two lines of temporary barriers with police stationed in the buffer zone.
On the steps of Parliament, Stop Co-Governance founder Julian Batchelor addressed his supporters with a megaphone but had to compete with the sound of the counter-protesters singing as well as an Antifa speaker whose words were amplified through a sound system.
Mr Batchelor called for the abolition of the Waitangi Tribunal and the repeal of race-based legislation. He also thanked the police for doing their job at the protest.
