Roughly 600 protesters on February 6 marched to where New Zealand’s founding document was signed in the town of Waitangi, as official celebrations competed with protests against proposed government policies that threaten Indigenous rights. The gathering is the biggest in at least 30 years.
Demonstrators were protesting New Zealand's centre-right coalition's promises to undo policies that promoted the official use of the Maori language and sought to enhance Indigenous living standards and rights.
The government has also said it will introduce, but was not committed to passing, a bill that would reinterpret the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document that established British and Maori governance of New Zealand, though the English and Maori versions differ and there is debate over whether the Maori ceded sovereignty.
Read more here.
