Thousands are marching in New Zealand’s capital against changes to the indigenous treaty | Protests News

The controversial legislation revises the 184-year-old Treaty of Waitangi which grants land rights to Maori tribes.
Thousands of people have joined a nine-day march on New Zealand’s capital over a controversial bill that would redefine the treaty between the British and the Aboriginal Maori people.
New Zealand police reported that around 10,000 people marched in the city of Rotorua in protest against the Treaty Principles Bill on Friday, greeted by hundreds waving the Maori flag as they headed south to the capital, Wellington, some 450 kilometers (280 miles) away.
The march – or hikoi in the Maori language – is expected to reach Wellington on Tuesday, where participants will hold rallies as they pass through towns and cities across the country after the bill passed its first reading in parliament on Thursday.
The move overhauls the 184-year-old Treaty of Waitangi, a document that gives Maori tribes broad rights to keep their lands and protect their interests in return for British rule. This document still guides law and policy today.
ACT New Zealand, the junior partner in the coalition government, last week introduced a bill, which it promised during last year’s election, saying those rights should also apply to non-indigenous people.
Maori people and their supporters say the bill threatens racial tension and undermines the rights of the country’s indigenous people, who make up about 20 percent of its 5.3 million residents.
As members of parliament voted on the bill on Thursday, 22-year-old legislator Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, of the Te Pati Maori party, tore up a copy of the bill and led her colleagues in the traditional haka dance.
Parliament was adjourned as people in the gallery joined in, their shouts ending the debate in the courtroom.
The measure passed first reading with 68 votes in favor and 54 against – one vote short of 123 MPs, due to Maipi-Clarke’s subsequent suspension – but it appears unlikely to become law.
Coalition partners the National Party and New Zealand First supported the legislation only through the first of three readings to achieve an agreement with ACT New Zealand.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, leader of the National Party, said on Thursday the terms of the deal had been negotiated and negotiated for 184 years and it was “easy” for ACT New Zealand leader David Seymour to suggest they could be resolved “on a federal basis”. the stroke of the pen”.
Seymour said people who oppose the law want to “stir up” fear and division. “My goal is to empower everyone,” he added.
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