Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was "angered" and "deeply saddened" by the anti-mandate protesters' riots on Wednesday.
"There has all the way through been an element to this occupation that has not felt like New Zealand and that's because it's not," Ardern said at a media stand-up after police attempts to shift the occupation were met with violence.
Ardern said there is a place for peaceful protests in New Zealand, but this is not the way Kiwis let their voices be heard and this is not how we engage in protest.
Following three weeks of anti-mandate protest on Parliament grounds in Wellington, the occupation is diminishing but hostility is escalating.
On Wednesday protesters rioted, setting fires and throwing various objects at police, after officers moved into Parliament grounds to attempt to restore order and end the protest.
In her press conference, Ardern said police had expected hostility, resistance and violence from the protesters and today's actions were not surprising because there has been a level of anger throughout the protest.
"We will never ever excuse it," Ardern said. "It was an attack on front-line police, it was an attack on our Parliament, it was an attack on our values and it was wrong."
She said our country will not be defined by the small number of protesters that are not a reflection of New Zealand.
Ardern said around 270 protesters were present on Parliament's lawn on Wednesday. Just yesterday 20,338 people went and got vaccinated to do their bit to help protect the country from COVID-19.
"We have all at times felt angry during this occupation after all we are in the middle of a pandemic, have 400 people hospitalised and 20,000 people becoming sick in just one day," Ardern said.
"It's almost impossible to comprehend that people would stand opposed to efforts to slow that down."
Ardern said the Government is looking at how they can address the underline causes of misinformation and disinformation from foreign countries that have grown in this country.
"How a group of people could succumb to such wild and dangerous mis- and disinformation."
She said disinformation is something all democracies have to tackle and it is dangerous when citizens are led into places where they so strongly believe conspiracy theories that they act in an "extreme and violent way".
Ardern said that there will be an increased police presence in Wellington to make sure locals feel safe and order is restored.
Her message for the protesters is simple: "My hope is they put down their weapons long enough for the police to arrest them."
