Hundreds of anti-vaccine protesters have camped outside parliament in Wellington for six days, inspired by convoys of Canadian truckers.
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Cyclone Dovi, which caused power cuts, landslides and evacuations across New Zealand on Sunday (February 13), has not deterred anti-vaccine protesters who have been camped outside parliament in Wellington for six days . Hundreds of them, inspired by the anti-health restrictions convoys against the Covid-19 of Canadian truckers, danced in the mud, to music that was intended to disperse them.
Like the Canadian truckers who paralyze the capital Ottawa, New Zealand protesters oppose the drastic anti-Covid measures imposed by the government and demand the end of the vaccination required for people working in certain sectors such as health. Their resolve seems to have been strengthened after the police intervention on Thursday, which led to the arrest of 122 people. Since then, the police have given up on making arrests and the authorities have tried to discourage them by operating automatic sprinklers.
On Sunday, as winds of up to 130km/h swept through Wellington and other parts of the archipelago, police asked people to avoid non-essential travel. Many roads were blocked by landslides. North of Wellington, houses have been evacuated. Several areas experienced power outages and firefighters responded to trees falling on homes and power lines, roofs ripped off and flooding.