The 2022 Wellington protest was an anti-mandate and anti-vaccine occupation of the grounds of Parliament House and Molesworth Street in Central Wellington during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It began in February 2022 and lasted just over three weeks. At its peak, the protest spread over a large area of Thorndon and into Pipitea with approximately 1,000 participants. Protestors blockaded areas around the parliamentary grounds with their vehicles and occupied the lawn and surrounding areas in tents. Due to their large numbers, the protestors also camped on private property, such as the driveways and gardens of nearby homes. Some associated with the protests harassed bystanders, including children walking to and from school, and disrupted local businesses. The protest was forcibly ended by police on 2 March 2022, and the protesters had none of their demands met by the Government.The protestors were a mixed group, but the majority protested the COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates in New Zealand, while some identified with far-right politics such as Trumpism, white nationalism and Christian fundamentalism. The protest methods ranged from peaceful to increasingly violent. There were videos of protestors skirmishing with and attacking police, and also several instances of some of them harassing and physically assaulting schoolchildren (mostly from Wellington Girls' College) for wearing masks. Some protesters hung nooses from trees and made threats to lynch politicians, such as Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and pregnant MP Steph Lewis. Far-right groups involved in the protests included the fundamentalist Destiny Church led by Brian Tamaki, the ultraconservative anti-immigration New Conservative Party, neo-Nazi organisation Action Zealandia, and the anti-vaccine groups "Voices for Freedom", among others. Other protestors erected a makeshift shower facility beside the Cenotaph. On 21 February, protestors threw their own faeces at police. Antisemitism was reported to be "rife" within the protests, with the Parliamentary grounds vandalised with swastikas, protestors misappropriating yellow stars, and messages targeting Jews written on car windows. There were also several reports of sexual assault from within the protest grounds.Despite the disruption to Wellingtonians, the police initially took a 'light-handed' approach to protestors. Otago University law professor Andrew Geddis suggested the police did not want to escalate the situation. As health and safety issues became an issue, police began to take action. Towards the end, some protestors turned violent and injured 40 police officers, putting eight of them in hospital. However, they failed to secure the removal of vaccine mandates or achieve any other demands. Eventually police forcibly removed the protestors, which left the parliamentary grounds covered in rubbish, including destroyed tents, hay, and human excrement. Arson was committed while protesters were being evicted, causing damage estimated in the millions.The protests came during the most widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in New Zealand since the pandemic began, with up to 23,180 daily recorded community cases of the Omicron variant by the end of the three week protest.
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