New Zealand police have moved in to end an anti-vaccine mandate protest in capital Wellington for the past three weeks.
Hundreds of protesters have been blocking streets with lorries, cars and motorcycles, in a protest that has led to violent clashes.
It follows demonstrations by lorry drivers in Canada who are unhappy with the country’s Covid-19 restrictions.
Officers on Wednesday begun towing away cars and dismantling tents set up outside Parliament.
Police said 60 people were arrested during Wednesday's operation as they “gained significant ground” in efforts to clear the protesters. At least three officers were injured, police said.
Protesters used fire extinguishers, paint-filled projectiles, home-made plywood shields and pitchforks as weapons and a cord was set up as a trip wire, police said. Social media footage showed protesters throwing full water bottles and shouting abuse at police.
Authorities used loudspeakers to warn protesters they face arrest for trespassing on Parliament grounds if they refuse to leave. Pepper spray was used on some protesters.
“Those protesters illegally occupying Parliament grounds and surrounding streets have been given ample opportunity to leave. It is time for them to go,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference after the police action.
The protests have been fuelled by misinformation and conspiracy theories, she said.
Police commissioner Andrew Coster said it was time to clear the roads of Wellington.
The protest began as a stand against Covid-19 vaccine mandates, but was later joined by groups calling for an end to all pandemic restrictions.
“We are fighting for our standard of life. We want our sovereign right to our bodies,” said Kate Siegert, who is unvaccinated, as she watched protesters move forward to block police advances.
Ms Siegert, who has made several trips from her home in Auckland to join the protest, said she lost her IT job because of mandates requiring vaccination for those who work in the health industry.
At least 10 children were seen within the protest area and police said they had concerns for their well-being.
Lisa Suasua, 55, who has been part of the protests for weeks, said she will stay until the end.
“They [the police] have been pretty brutal. They don't talk, they ask us to move on,” she said.
“They came in about six in the morning and started pulling up the tents in the church (grounds) that has women and children in it and just started coming through with their riot gear,” she said.
A country of five million people, New Zealand imposed tough anti-virus curbs that restricted its cases to just over 118,000 and 56 deaths, far lower than in many developed countries. But fuelled by the Omicron variant, daily infections are currently hovering near record levels.
About 95 per cent of eligible people are vaccinated with two doses, with shots mandatory for some staff in frontline jobs.
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Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
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The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
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