(Wellington) Riot police used pepper spray on Wednesday in the face of protesters outside New Zealand’s parliament and made arrests to end the camp against health restrictions.
Posted at 8:28 p.m.
Hundreds of police were deployed to the streets of Wellington before dawn to clear the thoroughfares around parliament which have been occupied by protesters’ vehicles for more than three weeks.
Putting an end to a strategy of non-intervention, the security forces equipped with shields advanced towards the protesters shouting “Move! Move! », dismantling the tents and starting to transfer cars and vans on trucks.
Pepper spray was used against protesters resisting the eviction and scuffles broke out.
Police reported a few people armed with pitchforks, but said they had “gained a lot of ground” during the operation, which continued Wednesday afternoon.
“We saw tactics (from protesters) today including spraying fire extinguishers on the police line, spraying paint, early on we saw weapons,” Commissioner Andrew Coster reported, announcing three wounded in its ranks and 36 arrests.
Police have asked Wellington residents to stay away from the area.
The demonstration had started in the wake of convoys against the vaccine passport in Canada, opposing health restrictions.
She then turned into a camp on the lawns of parliament and aggregated a series of grievances with some far-right messages, among anti-government and anti-media slogans.
Facing the police, a man shouted into a loudspeaker: “We don’t want to be genetically modified! »
Wellington residents have complained of being attacked by protesters for wearing masks and schools and businesses near the camp have been closed for safety reasons.
Police also reported poor sanitary conditions at the camp, which became a hotbed of COVID-19.
Up to 3,000 people have been counted in the camp, but the figure has dropped to 300 in recent days.
Police have expressed concern that the remaining hard core have shown a willingness to resort to violence.