A group of around 100 people has marched from the Cloud in Auckland’s CBD to the High Court to support members of the Protect Pūtiki protest group.
Thirty-two of its members have been served injunctions banning them from entering the site of the Kennedy Point Marina they oppose at Pūtiki Bay on Waiheke Island, they say.
Emily Māia Weiss, who is one of the “Pūtiki 32”, says they’ll continue to fight to get building stopped.
"We are here to defend ourselves and our right to continue protesting, to continue protecting, to continue in kaitiakitanga (guardianship) at Pūtiki Bay," she told 1News.
They argue the ongoing construction of the marina threatens the local penguin (kororā) population and that mana whenua was not properly consulted before consent was granted.
"The developers of the marina have been granted an ex parte injunction to further trespass our people, both 32 people and an infinite amount of others, from the water at Pūtiki," Weiss said.
"Not only do we want Auckland Council to respond, to protect Pūtiki, to revoke this resource consent, but on top of that, we have to call out the fact the developers are using back-handed, unprecedented legal tactics against us in order to supress the voice that's rising against them."
The movement has been vocal over the past eight months and has been involved in confrontations with police and Auckland Council.
Protect Pūtiki has the support of several Green MPs, Greenpeace, Ngāti Pāoa and others.
The protesters, who call themselves protectors, did a hikoi through the central city via Queen Street on Wednesday.
The group sung waiata, chanted and held signs as they moved from the waterfront to the High Court, keeping to the footpath before taking to the street for the final stretch on Waterloo Quadrant holding up traffic.
Police accompanied the hikoi.
Those served injunctions will attend a virtual hearing at the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday.
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