Persistent protesters set up camp again at bay

A small group of protesters have set up camp down the road from Wellington’s Ma¯hanga Bay, after they were evicted by police last week.

They have relocated to a gravel carpark, owned by the city council, about 100m from Shelly Bay. They first arrived on Miramar Peninsula after the 23-day Parliament occupation.

Police on Thursday cleared those who remained at Ma¯hanga Bay after repeated warnings to move on.

Six people were arrested — four for trespass, one for obstruction, and one on a warrant.

A spokesperson confirmed last night that police were aware that a small number of people from the Ma¯hanga Bay group were now in the area of Shelly Bay. Police were monitoring the situation, they said.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard Maclean said the group was about 100m south of Shelly Bay in a gravel parking area, land owned by the council. “We’re looking at our options and of course that could include trespass action.”

Shelly Bay has been the source of controversy in a separate occupation that lasted 16 months by a group called Mau Whenua. The prime real estate there is earmarked for a $500 million development, featuring 350 new homes. But the plan has been bogged down in legal challenges and disputes since its conception.

Mau Whenua has claimed the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust went against the will of its own people when it sold its land at Shelly Bay for development and that the deal was done in secret. But the two parties have recently started collaborating after a change in the trust’s leadership. Mau Whenua has previously issued a Facebook post distancing the group from the Ma¯hanga Bay protesters.