NZ Maori march to protest indigenous treaty bill

WELLINGTON—Hundreds of people on Monday set out on a nine-day march to New Zealand’s capital of Wellington in protest over legislation that would reinterpret a treaty at the heart of race relations in the Pacific country.

Convoys of cars and marchers set off after a dawn ceremony at Cape Reinga, in the country’s far north, and will stage rallies in towns and cities as they move south, according to Eru Kapa Kingi, spokesperson for Toitu Te Tiriti or Honour the Treaty.

While the march, or hikoi, was sparked by the bill currently before parliament, organizers want the march to ignite a broader conversation about New Zealand’s relationship to Maori, he said.

“This is to build a hunger not just with Maori but also people in Aotearoa (New Zealand) to properly understand the people of this country and what happened to Indigenous people,” he said.