A group of shouting protesters have chased the New Zealand prime minister’s van down a driveway as she visited a Christchurch primary school, amid tensions over increasingly volatile anti-vaccine mandate protests.
Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting a primary school in Christchurch, was met by a crowd of people shouting “shame on you” and “traitor”. Some held signs saying that the prime minister would be “put on trial” and “held responsible”, and one man brandished a fabricated arrest warrant – references to conspiracy theories that a cohort of world leaders and powerful people are secretly using vaccines to commit a genocide, and would soon be put on trial and hanged for treason.
Police officers formed a barrier to allow the prime minister to pass through.
The Prime Minister was rushed away from an event at a school near Christchurch after a large group of protestors arrived. More on @1NewsNZ #nzpol pic.twitter.com/rPPPxnUrgn
— Maiki Sherman (@MaikiSherman) February 24, 2022
TVNZ deputy political editor, Maiki Sherman, who was attending the event, reported that parents and teachers at the school were “visibly upset”. The incident came as the country reported 6,137 new cases of Covid-19, almost a doubling from the previous record, set one day earlier.
Anti-vaccine and anti-vaccine mandate protesters have been occupying New Zealand’s parliament grounds for more than two weeks and blocking a number of streets in Wellington’s central business district with their cars.
The mood of the gatherings has darkened over time and rhetoric from some protesters has included violent threats against politicians, scientists and journalists. Two schools in the area have shut for the week, citing ongoing harassment of students for wearing masks. One protester was arrested this week after driving his car at a line of police officers, and police have also alleged that protesters threw faecal matter at officers.
Last month, Ardern’s vehicle was chased and forced on to a curb by anti-vaccination protesters calling her a Nazi and yelling obscenities. Asked about the incident at the time, Ardern said it was “just another day”.
“At no point was I worried about my safety or the safety of anyone that was with me,” she said.
“Every day is faced with new and different experiences in this job … We are in an environment at the moment that does have an intensity to it that is unusual for New Zealand. I do also believe that with time it will pass.”
