New Delhi: New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, saw hundreds of citizens on the roads on Tuesday. Inspired by the truckers’ protest in Canada, the Kiwis staged a protest against the New Zealand government’s strict covid and vaccine rules.
The numbers of these protesters multiplied numerous times within two days as they launched the campaign ‘Convoy for Freedom’. Local reports (via BBC) state that about 100 police officers have been deployed in front of the national parliament. BBC further shared that the rallies of the past week had been ignored by the parliamentarians as not one single person had addressed the crowd which is in contrast to some previous rallies that New Zealand has seen.
Commenting on the same, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern dismissed the protesters. She said, “I think it would be wrong to in any way characterise what we've seen outside as a representation of the majority.” She added, “The majority of New Zealanders have done everything they can to keep one another safe.”
Ardern has faced criticism from the Kiwis for her strict and harsh covid rules which have been in place for two years now. Though these restrictions allowed New Zealand to be at a much better place as compared to the rest of the world in preventing the spread of the virus, the duration of many rules, which includes a vaccine mandate and minimum 10-day isolation, has infuriated the people.
BBC reports that the public polls are showing increasing dissatisfaction with the government which is evident from the increased protest numbers in recent months.
After almost two years of border closure, New Zealand announced the reopening of its borders last week. This will allow citizens strangled abroad to return home. However, a majority of the international travellers will not be allowed inside the country till October and tourism businesses are in criticism of this timeline.