Protesters occupying a sacred Māori site in Auckland are setting up tents to spend another night there, and the Prime Minister has been asked to get involved.
The Ihumātao site in Māngere has been described as the Stonehenge of Auckland. But Fletcher Building wants to build a housing subdivision there.
Today, the passionate stand-off continued between police and protestors, and by mid-morning that passion led to dozens breaking the barrier, claiming back forbidden and sacred Māori land.
Police in a uniformed line ran to stop the protesters, taking one man into custody. The man was one of five arrested in 24 hours.
"I don't think they can do much. There's a lot of children out there," says one protester.
In the early hours of the morning, police were also forced to pull a female out of harm's way and arrest her, after she wedged herself between the cab and trailer of a Fletcher's truck.
"This is only just the start. We're only going to get bigger and stronger," says a protester.
And it did, with the presence of protesters growing each hour.
Protester organiser Pania Newton slept in her car at the cordon. She's one of the protesters occupying the land who were served eviction notices yesterday.
"We were here overnight," says Newton." The feeling was joyful but sad that we are having to repeat the same actions that were employed at Bastion Point. And it's not necessarily for ourselves it's for our children and grandchildren that are yet to come because the history that this land holds is for the beginnings of our nation."
Police are now to remain at the site of the protest overnight. Police say they are in the middle of a difficult, evolving situation and are committed to resolving the situation peacefully, says a police spokesperson.
Ihumātao is tucked between Manukau Harbour and Auckland Airport. It's Auckland's oldest settlement and is regarded as sacred by local Māori as it is a burial ground for their ancestors.
In 2013, the Auckland Council, facing a housing shortage, rezoned it so that Fletcher Building could build a 480-house subdivision.
The iwi and Fletcher Building have been at loggerheads ever since, and the protesters have occupied the land for three years.
"The Government need to intervene and give this land back to Māori," says a protester.
And that was a message hundreds sent directly to the Beehive, blocking a main road in central Wellington on their way to the steps of Parliament.
"We are falling on the side of the local iwi and their position," says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. "If we come in over the top it really would be undermining the local iwi in this case."
And that fight is one the protesters are not giving up any time soon.
Newshub.
