Te Pāti Māori protest plans to cause major traffic disruptions on Thursday

A nationwide protest organised by Te Pāti Māori is being tipped to cause major disruptions across the country on Thursday.

The Toitū Te Tiriti National Day of Action protesters will be participating in ‘carkois’ which entails driving slowly across roadways to disrupt traffic flow at peak times.

In Auckland, protesters will meet at locations near motorway on-ramps, north, south and west of the city at 6.30am.

Te Pāti Māori shared on social media that this is a “rangatira revolution”.

“We are being attacked for being Māori,” Te Pāti Māori wrote.

Traffic is expected to be gridlocked with protests planned on Auckland’s motorway network, and marches and convoys slated for other key transport points around the country.

Protests are planned for the following areas on Thursday,

Second day of disruption

Te Pāti Māori protests brought peak-hour traffic to a standstill last December in a similar event also organised by Te Pati Māori.

Police say an estimated 300 cars joined the Auckland protest, which was “peaceful and the vast majority of groups dispersed relatively quickly”.

In Wellington, 1000 protesters gathered on Parliament grounds, where Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer addressed the crowd.

The convoys gathered about 7am in several cities and at traffic pressure points including near Auckland’s Northern Motorway at the Palmers Albany Garden Centre, near the Upper Harbour Motorway on Brigham Creek and Hobsonville Rds, and near the Southern Motorway at BP Bombay.

Further south, the Waikato Expressway suffered a 3km backlog after being blocked by about 50 cars. This had a “significant impact on traffic”, police said.

Hamilton, Whakatāne, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Taupō and Palmerston North also held gatherings of about 100 people each, with minimal disruption.

– More to come