Police were forced to ask people to leave an anti-co-governance event in Dargaville on Friday after attendees took issue with the speaker's comments.
The event was part of an anti-co-governance roadshow running across the country. Christian evangelist organiser Julian Batchelor tried to give an hour-long talk opposing co-governance, Māori MPs, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and iwi organisations. But footage from the event shows Batchelor being repeatedly interrupted and drowned out by indignant attendees.
Around half of the 150 people who attended were there to stick up for Māoridom, according to RNZ.
During his speech, Batchelor claimed co-governance is part of a war between "tribal representatives or elite Māori and the rest of New Zealand".
He also described policies aimed at supporting Māori as "apartheid".
People can be heard yelling, "wrong", "no it's not" and "we're not going anywhere" in response.
In one video a police officer can be seen asking the crowd to "tone it down a bit".
Among Batchelor's critics is Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora (Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua).
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Paniora said Batchelor's speech was about "singling out and attacking Māori".
"This is the vitriol and racism we witnessed tonight at the Stop Co-Governance talk by Julian Batchelor which was really just about singling out and attacking Māori," she said.
"This tour needs to be banned! It is abhorrent and disgusting and just wrong on so many levels."
She told RNZ the speech was "blatant racism".
"I'm gonna call him for what it is. We're not going to tolerate it in our community - we're reeling from the cyclone. We've just started to re-establish... We've come together [through the natural disaster]," she told the outlet.
