New Zealand: Thousands of people march at Black Lives Matter rallies in Auckland

Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets in New Zealand as of June 13 to express solidarity with the death of the African American citizen George Floyd who succumbed to the white officer’s chokehold in a brutal act of racial prejudice in Minnesota, US. Chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe", protesters marched against the police along city streets and kneeling with raised fists in Aotea Square, in the center of the city, before moving on to the US consulate, as seen in the footages released on air.  

Protesters assembled in Christchurch amid the downpours and in Wellington, the nation’s capital, with placards yelling slogans, demanding justice. At night, a huge crowd gathered outside the parliament building reflecting on the history of police violence against Indigenous people in Australia and New Zealand. In the footages, demonstrators can be seen taking out rallies and vigils to have their voices heard against the racial profiling and white supremacist ideology forgetting social distancing, while still wearing their protective masks.  

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In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was heard saying in a live-streamed address, “while I utterly understand why people had marched, New Zealand had social distancing rules in place to protect people’s health – and the June 1 marches were a clear breach of them”. 

If we had one person, one person in that crowd, just think what could happen there because we’ve seen it before, I understand the strength of feeling and I understand the sentiment and I understand that sense of urgency that everyone felt. But my job is to look after the country’s health as well—PM Jacinda Ardern

Organized by a group of people of colour from New Zealand’s African community, the march sought to peacefully demonstrate and give speeches at overcrowded Aotea Square, as can be seen in one of the footage. A crowd between 2,000 and 4,000 people marched flouting the health safety protocols as the police officers stood behind the designated barricades to manage the crowd while being more tolerant.

Impassioned speeches delivered 

One of the organizers of the event, Mahlete Tekeste, delivered a speech on racial inequality, saying that George Floyd's killing was “state-sanctioned murder of a black man, another iteration of the same culture and pattern that’s pervaded the US from the very beginning.” 

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(Images Credit: AP)