Occupation stops coast roadworks

Iwi occupying land on the Kaiko¯ura coast say they have stopped work through an urupa¯ (cemetery), calling it a ‘‘huge’’ moment in the protest.

Sharon Rayner, who is part of Occupation o¯ Mangamaunu at Kiwa Rd, said tangata whenua invited authorities to a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was called after the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance (NCTIR) and the Kaiko¯ura District Council told Stuff they did not plan to meet the occupiers.

Rayner said that at the hui at the Mangamaunu urupa¯, they were told that the NCTIR would be ‘‘pulling all works from the area’’.

It was a ‘‘huge moment’’ for tangata whenua, she said.

Occupation o¯ Mangamaunu began at the land near the intersection of Kiwa Rd and State Highway 1 on February 2, to protect sacred sites, urupa¯ , whenua and tipuna.

‘‘If there was anything I was going to say to any agencies working in a disaster, it’s that I hope there wouldn’t be that same mistake made of using something as detrimental as that earthquake legislation in taking away community and tangata whenua’s voices and rights. Let them have a say on how things should be put back together,’’ Rayner said.

The occupation would now focus its attention on closing Kiwa Rd and reopening Station Rd, to ‘‘return urupa¯, tı¯puna, ancestors, and whenu¯ a, land, as one’’, Rayner said.

The NCTIR was scheduled to commence ‘‘safety upgrades’’ at the Kiwa Rd intersection on February 3, but worked never started.

It told Stuff on Thursday it would not continue with the ‘‘planned and approved’’ safety improvements at the intersection, a decision it said was made in early February.

‘‘NCTIR will instead look into other safety improvements in this area to protect road users and the urupa¯ .’’