At dawn this morning, over 200 people gathered at Canal Road in Avondale in response to a callout by the community group at the heart of the campaign to stop a stand of native trees there from being felled.

Three people are blockading the entrance to the site with their arms locked inside concrete-filled barrels, while several arborists have occupied the tree-tops, and dozens of others have formed a human chain around the site.

Police and contractors have just arrived at the site.

The group plans to maintain a presence at the site today to ensure that the trees remain standing. It’s expected that contractors will arrive shortly.

This is the seventy-first day that the community protest has saved the remaining trees on the site from being felled.

Speaking from the tree tops, Zane Wedding said “this is Auckland where the city's symbol is the pohutukawa, but the real symbol of this city right now is that pohutukawa lying dead on the ground below me.”

“Mayor Phil Phil Goff needs to come down here, step up and take responsibility for these trees, and the central Government must reinstate general tree protection to stop this happening any more anywhere else.”

Over six thousand people have signed the group’s petition calling on Jacinda Ardern to reinstate the general tree protection which was removed by the previous National Government.

Local resident Juressa Lee says that “it has been incredibly heartening to have so many people respond to our call out. When we see all these people step up, we know that ultimately we can win this fight.”

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