Protest activity - Parliament grounds
Police will be highly visible across Wellington city from today with extra police staff redeployed from across the country, ahead of anticipated protest activity heading to Parliament grounds tomorrow.
We know that over the past few days several groups have been moving across the country in support of a variety of protest causes, most of which are planning to end at Parliament grounds tomorrow.
Police will have a clearer picture of the numbers involved later today as protest groups move closer to Wellington.
Our planning for this has been underway for several weeks, and we are now well placed to respond to a number of, and range of, scenarios. Last year’s Parliamentary occupation provided some helpful learnings for us as an organisation.
Staff numbers have been boosted across all shifts in the district for next two days with more than 80 staff specifically trained in Public Order Policing mobilised to support Wellington district staff.
The focus for Police this week has been on talking to local residents and businesses as well as local iwi and agencies across the government sector.
Road closures are now in place around Parliament, with Molesworth Street and neighbouring streets closed, or operating with restricted access. Parliament has been deemed a no-fly zone, which also prohibits drones.
Our focus has been on ensuring buses and trains are able to operate as normal, and that disruption for local residents and businesses is minimal.
For those coming to march and protest at Parliament, we respect people’s right to demonstrate peacefully in support of their cause, but we are prepared to take enforcement action if it stops being peaceful.
We will have a very low tolerance for any structures being set up on the grounds, and we do have the ability to mobilise additional staff quickly if required. Tow trucks will be on stand-by in the city.
There may be some incidents on which we will need follow up as enquiries later.
To that end, we are keen to have the public’s assistance – to help be our eyes and ears, particularly on Lambton Quay, during the march to Parliament. We will likely want to see any video footage of unlawful activity, and people can report this through 105. But we are also asking that people don’t intervene or compromise their own safety.
It is an important part of our democracy that we preserve people’s right to protest. In the end, our hope is that people come to our city, to have their say on Parliament grounds, and then to leave peacefully.
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.8% Summer
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35.8% Winter
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1.4% Other - I'll share below
We're talking new year resolutions...
Tidying the house before going to bed each night, meditating upon waking or taking the stairs at work.
What’s something quick, or easy, that you started doing that made a major positive change in your life?
GOODBYE THE POST - NOT QUITE.
Finally joined the large throng of former The Evening Post, The Dominion and DomPost home and office delivery subscribers and cut out a delivered newspaper. Well almost.
This follows in the footsteps of the Upper Hutt Leader being scrapped from weekly delivery.
Now I am among those who receive a digital copy of The Post on a computer and smart phone and a delivered Saturday- only copy of the same. The savings in costs is close to $800 per year. But that is not the real reason for my cancelling delivery.
The delivery wrapped-up newspaper (which can occur as early as 11pm) was being thrown either onto the driveway and skidding onto flowers lining the driveway or direct hits onto the sunflowers.
The Post has become a shell of a major capital city daily newspaper. It is almost not and local regional news - especially sport - is usually non existent.
The name is not good. Google The Post and you get a host of NZ Post sites which are entirely unrelated. The Post is a featureless name. The Dominion (or The Dom for short) had character as a name and a history as a newspaper in Wellington.
Just a thought: The Harvey Norman News Bulletin sounds relevant.
The Evening Post at its zenith and even with the competition of the morning paper (The Dominion) was NZs best selling newspaper with a relative huge home delivered demand.
But where I have lived for the past 4 years or so, I may have been the sole resident receiving The Post in a radius of 300 metres of housing north, south, east and west.
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