Fires break out in New Zealand protest camps

As a demonstration against COVID-19 vaccine mandates entered a fourth week in the New Zealand capital, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said violent conspiracy theorists had replaced the original demonstrators. Authorities in riot gear moved in on the protesters’ camp Wednesday morning, deploying pepper spray. Video showed protesters setting tents ablaze, tossing in mattresses to spread the fire, and throwing objects at police. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said police made roughly 60 arrests, in addition to 132 in earlier weeks.

What were they protesting? Hundreds of demonstrators arrived in Wellington in February to protest the vaccine mandates for workers in health, education, and public service sectors, along with pandemic restrictions. Protest leaders said they only chose to camp out in front of Parliament after options for dialogue failed. The group set up tents, brought in portable toilets, dug a vegetable garden, and even created a day care tent. New Zealand currently faces a wave of new COVID-19 infections, with roughly 22,000 new cases daily. The country of 5 million has suffered 100 deaths since the start of the pandemic, and about 77 percent of the entire population is fully vaccinated.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Jill Nelson’s report about how different countries, including New Zealand, approached COVID-19 restrictions.