Story summary
A public protest allows people to complain about something they think is wrong, and build support to change it. Most target politicians. The Bill of Rights Act guarantees the right to public protest.
Most protests are in towns and cities. In Wellington, protesters often march to Parliament and are addressed by MPs.
Letters and petitions
People write to a newspaper or a politician to highlight an issue and start debate. Groups sometimes organise letter-writing campaigns.
Petitions collect signatures to ask that a grievance be considered (usually by Parliament or a local authority).
- The women’s suffrage petitions were signed by more than 30,000 people in the 1880s and 1890s.
- The ‘Save Manapōuri’ petition of 1970, signed by almost 265,000 people, stopped Lake Manapōuri’s level being raised to produce hydroelectricity.
Meetings and rallies
At meetings protest leaders make speeches, and those attending may decide on resolutions and actions.
Rallies are held outside. One of the largest was in 1951, when about 17,000 people gathered in Auckland to support waterside workers during their industrial dispute.
Sit-ins and occupations
These occur when a group occupies a place to highlight a grievance. A sit-in usually takes about a day, but an occupation can last for weeks or even years.
- In 1955 a group of women held a sit-in on the Nelson railway to protest government plans to close the line.
- In 1977 the Ngāti Whātua tribe occupied their former land at Bastion Point, Auckland, for 507 days.
- In 1978 Eva Rickard led a sit-in at the Raglan golf course asking that it be returned to its original Māori owners.
Pickets, blockades and boycotts
Pickets are a line of people standing in a public space. They are common in industrial disputes, often to discourage strikebreakers from entering a workplace.
Blockades involve stopping goods or people from passing.
Boycotts suspend relationships with a business or company.
Protest marches
Protest marches move along streets, with participants often carrying placards and banners. In the earliest marches, an effigy of a person was sometimes burnt. Unionists and the unemployed have often held marches.
In the 1960s and 1970s people marched against the Vietnam War and nuclear tests, and for women’s and Māori rights. The 1975 hīkoi was a Māori land march from Northland to Wellington.
Marches were common in the 1980s and early 1990s, including thousands marching against the Springbok rugby tour in 1981.
In the 2000s there were fewer marches.
