The intersection between Bunny and Featherston streets, the scene of violent clashes between the anti-vaccine mandate protesters and police on March 2, has returned to normalcy. But police are still maintaining vigil around Parliament and the surrounding areas.
Within its precincts, where the protesters had set up their campsite, the clean-up is in progress. “The play area was set on fire by them,” says a policeman on duty at the site. He estimates the damage to the slides and swings will amount to $ 50,000. This figure may not reflect the true cost of the damage accruing from those tumultuous three weeks of the Parliament occupation, but it indicates the perception doing the rounds among the uniformed personnel posted at the site.
However, local media estimates have put the damage to the play area alone at $ 242,000.
Are there any indications that the protesters might be regrouping? “We have no intel to that effect,” another policeman adds.” There are no protesters in sight.”
Across the street, Faisal, who mans the counter at a dairy, welcomes the spell of calm after the storm. “The protesters would come into the shop without wearing face masks,” he recalls. This made his other customers uneasy. The retail outlet next door is closed. A sign on the glass door reads: “Due to Covid, as a precaution we are closing till we are all clear.”
A short distance away, the Waterloo Hotel, located opposite from the train station, wears a deserted look. Once the haunt of protesters, the hotel’s lounge is empty. Clearly, some businesses thrived during the protest.
Meanwhile, the police are appealing to the public to provide “video and still images to help identify those involved in criminal activity during last week’s operation to restore order and access to the Parliamentary precinct.”
“That was a different kind of chaos, brother,” Vincent Banks, one of the protesters present during the March 2 police crackdown, told the Indian Weekender.
The core protesters appear to have dispersed to other locations in the greater Wellington area and are keeping the flag of protest aloft.
Meanwhile, back at the Parliament site, the process of removing the roadblocks erected by the protesters is under way.
When asked if the damage inflicted was permanent, a policeman said, only half in jest: “To the reputation of New Zealand.”