Maori MP tears up Treaty Bill, performs traditional haka in New Zealand Parliament to protest
New Zealand’s Parliament witnessed a rare scene on Thursday when 22-year-old Te Pati Maori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, the youngest MP in nearly two centuries, led an explosive protest.
Maipi-Clarke tore up a copy of the controversial Treaty Principles Bill that was once signed with the British Crown by the indigenous Maoris and performed the traditional Maori haka for their rights.
The bill proposes to bring alterations to the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi, a 184-year-old treaty, between the British Crown and Māori people.
Hundreds of people have set off on a nine-day march from the northern part of the country in protest over the legislation.
They are expected to arrive in the capital Wellington, on Tuesday for a big rally.
The country is often considered a milestone in indigenous rights, but opponents of the bill fear those same rights are being put at risk by this bill.
Act, the political party that introduced the bill, argues there is a need to legally define the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which has been fundamental to race relations in New Zealand, BBC reported.
The core values of the treaty have been woven into New Zealand's laws to redress the wrong done to Māori during colonisation.
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