By TeKāhu.

With hundreds of vehicles travelling from the north and south in what has become the largest convoy to ever protest at Parliament, it has been equally incredible to see New Zealand’s MPs all avoid any meeting, discussion, any engagement at all with any protestors.

Instead, the politicians have engaged in barbed commentary either directly or passive-aggressively against Convoy 2022. And unfortunately, it appears that mainstream media has sought to smear the overall protest, eerily similar to the mainstream media smearing of Canadian and Australian protests against growing authoritarianism.

When the passionate protestors arrived in Wellington, there were songs and speeches, and a diverse unity under the cause of freedom.

A local pastor who was supporting Convoy 2022 with sound equipment, Heker Robertson, was asked to MC the first day, which he duly complied. During his speech, he requested that the protestors ensure that their vehicles were not blocking the office workers in the vicinity. This led to some confusion at the time as to whether Ps Robertson was simply speaking on housekeeping matters or actually advising the protestors to leave outright. With passion, excitement, adrenalin and fatigue from the previous three days of journeying, it is understandable that misunderstandings would occur. Ps Robertson received significant backlash online for the perceived capitulation, something that the local pastor spoke to The Daily Examiner about.

Soon afterwards the organisers of the event were able to clarify the situation, although there remains some confusion in various quarters at the time of this report. The day then moved on into the night with songs and speeches. Notably, there was harassment by some pro-mandate groups seeking to disrupt and foment fear in the protestor group by way of issuing fake notices of arrests and threats.

The following day saw more speeches and songs, and then an incident occurred when documents were attempted to be presented to Minister Andrew Little.

The scene quickly became heated and contentious, with a swift and harsh response by police, possibly escalated by the seemingly orchestrated appearance of over two dozen more police officers. This event was covered by The Daily Examiner reporter John Taylor:

https://www.facebook.com/dailyexaminernz/videos/630334028193104

In the midst of this sudden escalation, Pastor Heker Robertson stepped forward, speaking to the passionate crowd. Incredibly, after a calm yet assertive steady speaking passage, he was able to settle the agitated crowd and eased the long-simmering tension.

He spoke of the children who supported the Convoy, he spoke of his own feelings of anger, of the need to be patient and joined with the crowd. And in his vulnerability he started singing impromptu, the New Zealand national anthem “God Defend New Zealand”.

Here he speaks about the incident, his own feelings of anger and his views with reporter John Taylor: