New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is being accused of a “lack of leadership” over an escalating land dispute between Maori and a construction company that plans to build 500 homes on sacred land in south Auckland.
Opposition to the project boiled over this week, when a group that had been illegally occupying the land was served an eviction notice.
The group has grown to about 300 people with police also increasing their presence.
Seven protesters were arrested on Thursday night after they linked arms and chained themselves to a van to block part of the motorway near the city’s airport.
The site, called Ihumatao, is home to New Zealand’s earliest market gardens and is a significant archeological site on land considered sacred by local Maori.
Fletcher Building is looking to develop about 500 homes on the land, which local Maori say was stolen from them after land wars with the British in the 1860s.
The protesters want the land returned to local Maori.
Protesters have implored Ardern to step in, but she has so far said that the government would not get involved.
“This is something obviously everyone wants to see resolution around, no one wants to see the kinds of disruption and outpouring of emotion [we have seen],” Ardern said. “Everyone wants a resolution, but ultimately it will have to come from mana whenua [Maori].”
Protest leader Pania Newton told reporters that Ardern’s words showed “a lack of leadership” and “ignorance” about the government’s treaty obligations.
“This is the revolution of our generation,” Newton said.
In 2017, the campaigners asked the government to address alleged breaches of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People.
However, a court declined to overturn the decision to allow building at the site and land rights remain a controversial issue.
Maori Party president Che Wilson said that Ardern needs to “front up” and show “kindness” to the Ihumatao and its complexity.
Fletcher Building Residential CEO Steve Evans said that the company has committed to returning 25 percent, or 8 hectares, of the land to Maori and that the building project would take due care with the significance of Ihumatao.
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