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Ross Giblin / Stuff
Timothy Wagner, left, Anaru Mepham, Stafford Tawhai, Hinekaa Mako and Tere Harrison are part of a group that has established an occupation that opposes the development of Shelly Bay.
Wellington City Council has no plans to evict and may provide toilets for protesters, some of whom are using a tent erected by Mayor Andy Foster on council grounds.
A one-man sentinel in Shelly Bay became the starting point for an occupation Sunday afternoon when four others joined Anaru Mepham of the Mau Whenua group at the Miramar Peninsula site where it is planned. a development of $ 500 million.
Foster, the mayor of Wellington, was photographed on Sunday braving a strong wind as he helped erect a tent for the protesters, who they say are set to stay until March.
The land they chose to occupy was the same one that Wellington City Council voted to sell and lease to developer Ian Cassels earlier this month.
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Council spokesman Richard MacLean said a strict reading of the rules meant that the occupants should have obtained a permit to protest on council land, but the council was not going to enforce this.
“I don’t think we will do anything in the next few weeks to raise the temperature.”
Ross Giblin / Stuff
The United Tribes flag in Shelly Bay, where a land occupation is taking place.
The council, if necessary, would consider providing portable toilets for protesters, he said.
Dean Knight, an associate professor of law at the University of Victoria, said it was too early to say whether Foster’s direct involvement would complicate the council’s reaction to the occupation.
“If legal measures such as eviction are being considered, then my opinion is that none of the elected members, including the mayor, should participate in them,” Knight said.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
The occupation of Shelly Bay began as Anaru Mepham’s one-man sentinel.
“Like police operations in the central government, politicians should not be involved in coercive operational decisions by local authorities.
“There is an implicit division of powers between governors, who set the direction of policies and laws, and officials charged with enforcing, promulgating, and enforcing them.
“Elected members who influence enforcement decisions, such as eviction or prosecution, etc., whether formally or informally, would amount to a worrying aggregation of power.”
Most of the land in Shelly Bay is already owned by Cassels. He bought most of Wellington iwi Taranaki Whānui in a sale that is being contested by the Mau Whenua group in a High Court case scheduled for March.
On Monday morning, Mepham said the protesters, who would adhere to the rules of no drugs, alcohol and violence, planned to stay there until that court case to make sure work didn’t start earlier.
About five spent the night Sunday, but he said the occupants would be assigned to rotate for the next several months.
Taranaki Whānui settled in Wellington from Taranaki, where the pacifist Maori settlement Parihaka would become a beacon for peaceful resistance.
Mepham said the same philosophy would apply in Shelly Bay, where he envisioned a slow gathering of occupants.
“We want to enter carefully, there are problems with Covid and with health and safety,” he said.
