Protests just ‘a shadow of real thing’
A few moments of disruption for motorists in centres around the country is nothing compared to the sort of climate change disruption that is on the way, say protesters.
That’s the message that hundreds of marchers were trying to get across as part of the Extinction Rebellion action in seven centres on Saturday.
The ‘‘human wave’’ actions were part of the culmination of a week-long global action that has seen hundreds arrested around the world.
Dr Sea Rotmann, spokeswoman for the Wellington march, said affected motorists had largely been receptive to the message, though there were a number who were vocal in their opposition.
Rotmann said the idea of the human wave was to draw attention to coastal inundation and sea level rise.
‘‘The slogan is that seas are rising, but so are we,’’ Rotmann said. ‘‘Sixty-five per cent of Kiwis live within five kilometres of the coast and most of our major cities have very vulnerable infrastructure. We wanted to show what will happen when the seas come up. The disruption we created today will be very, very minor compared to what’s coming.
‘‘It’s hard to get people to appreciate something that is not happening immediately, but is definitely happening. We saw this as a reasonable way of doing that. We’re not being aggressive. We’re apologising for the action and even handing out hot cross buns.’’
The group of 100 people blocked Jervois Quay periodically throughout the action, which ran from 11am till 2pm.
Things got a little more heated in Auckland, where spokesman Simon Oosterman said about 60 people took part in the action
‘‘We blocked off Mission Bay for about an hour during Easter holiday, so it was bound to upset some people. We told people they could turn their car around, but we can’t turn around climate change without drastic action,’’ Oosterman said.
He said local residents, who had been affected by high seas in recent years, were largely supportive of their action, and police were also ‘‘quite relaxed about it all’’.
Other protests were held in Thames, Tauranga, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.