New Zealand protesters occupying parliament grounds in Wellington were bombarded by a cyclone and Barry Manilow songs over the weekend but vowed to stay until the government ends vaccine mandates.
The protest entered its seventh day Monday with the lawns in front of parliament covered by a sea of tents and a large, noisy crowd still in attendance. When the remnants of Cyclone Dovi lashed the capital city on Saturday with high winds and torrential rain, turning the grounds into a mud bath, protesters covered the area with hay.
They also withstood efforts by Parliament’s Speaker, Trevor Mallard, to oust them by blasting songs from Manilow, James Blunt and Celine Dion over loud speakers — a tactic police said they would not have endorsed.
