A contractor working on a controversial marina development on Waiheke Island says video of a security guard appearing to kick a protester only shows one side of the story.
Footage showing a clash between protesters and security at the Kennedy Point Marina was shared online yesterday. In the video a protester is manhandled by a man wearing a high-vis jacket. Then, while the protester is in the water, the man in the high-vis jacket can be seen kicking the person in the water in the head.
But one contractor working on the construction site at the time says the video doesn't show the whole story. He said the security guard in the video was provoked by protesters before the incident.
"[Security] were just trying to keep us safe, because we were getting attacked," he said.
"We're just doing a job and they're attacking us."
Locals, iwi and environmental activists have been battling the marina for years, and protesters from Protect Pūtiki have been occupying the construction site for more than 120 days, saying the marina endangers a nearby kororā (little blue penguin) colony - a claim rejected by developers.
Tensions have flared at the site in recent weeks, with a number of violent incidents taking place. Last week footage showed security workers ramming a boat into protesters surrounding the construction zone.
Police confirmed they were investigating the latest incident, which took place on Wednesday, and "monitoring the situation surrounding the ongoing dispute between developers and protestors".
A spokesperson said a number of complaints had been received relating to the incident.
"Police will be investigating all allegations relating to criminal offending and this will take some time to complete."
Protect Pūtiki spokesperson Emily Weiss said the use of force against protesters was unacceptable.
"The climate that has been created down here over the past few months has been scary and intimidating," she told Newshub.
"No security guard has the right to be using excessive force on peaceful protesters."
Kennedy Point Marina director Kitt Littlejohn said the company was "very concerned with the escalating tensions on site" and said the video footage showed only "a small segment of a confrontation that took place between protesters who were trespassing and the company’s security personnel".
"It is not an accurate representation of the full incident."
He said the company did not condone the unprovoked or unreasonable use of force by anyone, and said an internal investigation of the actions of security staff was being undertaken.
"The company has always respected the rights of people to peacefully protest, however this protest is no longer being conducted in a peaceful manner, with significant offending aimed at the company’s personnel and property now occurring on site in what has become an unnecessarily confrontational situation.
"This has got to stop before someone gets seriously hurt."
Weiss said protesters were doing their best not to escalate the situation and had written to the council and Government ministers in a bid for them to intervene and stop construction.
"We're well aware that they see that as their trespass zone, as their construction zone, as their property, but we're also well aware that we see that as everybody's ocean, everybody's moana."
An online petition set up by Protect Pūtiki has also received more than 20,000 signatures and Weiss says Kennedy Point Marina needs to take a "serious look" at the complaints from Waiheke locals about the construction.
They also need to "take a serious look at the behaviour they're condoning in order to uphold their right to build," she said.
