About 35,000 people protest in New Zealand in support of Maori rights

Some 35,000 people demonstrated this Tuesday in front of the New Zealand Parliament, after a nine-day march across the country against a proposal that calls into question the status of the indigenous Maori population.

This is a proposal by deputy David Seymour, of Maori origin and belonging to the ruling party, which aims to review the interpretation of the agreement between the indigenous population and the British Crown, of 1840.

For many of the marchers, as well as being a protest, the march was also a celebration of the resurgence of the Maori language and indigenous identity that British colonization nearly destroyed.

“We are simply fighting for the rights that our ‘tupuna,’ our ancestors, fought for,” Shanell Bob said as he waited for the march to begin.

“We are fighting for our ‘tamariki’, for our ‘mokopuna’, so that they can have what we cannot,” he added, using the Maori words for children and grandchildren.

What was probably the largest protest ever held in New Zealand in support of Māori rights followed a peaceful nine-day march across the country towards the capital, Wellington.

For many participants, The demonstration reflected growing solidarity regarding indigenous rights on the part of non-Māori.

At the bus stops, during the usual morning commute, people of all ages and races waited with flags of Maori sovereignty.

Some local schools said they would not record students as absent and Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau joined the protest.

David Seymour has argued that the decades-long reparations process in which British authorities violated the treaty, particularly through land expropriation, created special treatment for indigenous people, which he opposes.

Opponents of the project claim that the proposal would dilute the rights of Maori, who are still at a disadvantage compared to the population of European origin, according to almost all social and economic indicators.