This Monday afternoon climate and activist groups from around Pōneke joined at the Wellington Cenotaph to rally together against the persecution of protestors in Aotearoa. This rally coincided with the first week of trial for the Aotearoa Climate Defenders, a group of five peaceful protestors who took action with the climate group Restore Passenger Rail.

Speakers from Climate Liberation Aotearoa (CLA), Fridays For Future and others spoke about issues of police violence and legal repression of peaceful protest. A Climate Liberation Aotearoa spokesperson, Frank Preddey, had to say of the rally: “It’s been really encouraging to see the support from different groups with different kaupapa coming together in solidarity. It’s clear that protecting the right to peaceful protest is a cause that we can all take up, no matter our individual focuses.”

This trial comes at a time when the right to protest is being tested at home and abroad. In January, the CLA held a demonstration outside the British High Commission in response to the excessive sentences of a group of climate activists working with the Just Stop Oil campaign in the UK - some of the British activists facing up to five years in prison for their peaceful protest. Earlier this year, the Countering Foreign Interference Bill was proposed, a bill which some academics, such as Amanda Thomas, worry will endanger protections for freedom to protest in Aotearoa. Further outcry has been raised after the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) earlier this month made recommendations that would require protestors to apply for permission to assemble, among other restrictions.

“It’s clear that these measures are being taken in response to escalating awareness by the public of the pressing issues facing our society; one of those issues being the climate crisis and the failure to adequately address it,” says Preddey. “In this time of crisis, the last thing we need is the government cracking down even harder on our democratic right to speech and assembly. The wider trend of repression and persecution that our government is playing into is pretty ominous.”

The rally had an atmosphere of camaraderie, with music, flags, and the For Future’s Sake (FFS) choir singing after the speeches. The message was clear: do what you will, we’ll still be here supporting one another.

© Scoop Media