Covid-19: Protester bites police officer at Auckland border

Tuesday, 9 November 2021

A group of people protesting the Government's Covid-19 response clash with police at Auckland's border.

A police officer has been bitten by a protester blocking the northern Auckland border in opposition to the Government’s Covid-19 response.

Protesters were queued up at the border, just north of Te Hana, refusing to move on Tuesday morning.

Waitematā police district commander, superintendent Naila Hassan, said traffic heading in and out of Auckland was blocked for more than an hour.

“Overall it has caused more than three hours of disruption to members of the public going about their lawful business,” she said.

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A police officer has been bitten in the process of moving protesters who were blocking the Auckland border.

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About 50 protesters were at the boundary, north of Te Hana, causing delays for inbound and outbound traffic.

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The protesters are part of the Sovereign Hīkoi of Truth movement.

Hassan said the actions of the protesters required police to “physically intervene” and move them off the road.

A police officer was bitten by a protester in the process. The protester was yet to be identified, police said on Tuesday afternoon.

About 150 protesters had gathered outside the governor-general’s house in Epsom.

Hassan said the action could have been avoided and “poses unnecessary risk to our staff”.

All protesters have now been cleared from the border, but police will continue to monitor the area for any further activity.

Police said further enforcement action had not been ruled out.

The protesters, part of the group which calls itself the Sovereign Hīkoi of Truth movement, converged at Kaiwaka early on Tuesday and drove in convoy towards the border to Auckland, which remains under alert level 3, step 1 restrictions until 11.59pm Tuesday.

Protesters were live-streaming proceedings as they attempted to cross the border, but were stopped by police.

According to a Stuff reporter at the scene, police issued warnings and a number of vehicles have been towed.

By 7.30am, police had moved the protesters off the road and had resumed checking documents of those wanting to enter Auckland.

At 8am, many protesters had dropped away, leaving 12 to 15 at the border.

In Auckland’s Epsom, police have been monitoring a group of about 100 protesters gathered outside Governor-General Cindy Kiro’s house.

The group has been “protesting peacefully” for several hours, a police spokesman said.

Police are monitoring the group, and so far there have been no incidents or arrests, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, police said they were continuing to monitor protests across the country on Tuesday, including the protest in Wellington, and smaller gatherings in Invercargill, Balclutha, Tauranga and Whangarei.