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Organizers and some scientists reject calls for more punitive action against anti-lockdown protesters as unnecessary.
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Minority party politicians Jami lee Ross and Billy Te Kahia were among those attending the rally. Source: 1 NEWS
By Katie Todd of rnz.co.nz
One of the organizers of the closure protest in Auckland yesterday, Advance New Zealand co-leader Jami-Lee Ross, said he was not concerned that thousands of people would disobey Covid-19 restrictions.
The protesters did not observe social distancing and very few were wearing masks, raising fears that they may have further spread the virus.
Ross said the protesters were reminded of the rules.
“At the beginning of the rally the protesters were told what the requirements were, that the New Zealand police had passed,” he said.
“There was a respectful relationship with the police and they were just doing their job.”
He said that ultimately the protest was about questioning whether the country is on the right track and whether the community should learn to live with the virus.
However, protesters also took the opportunity to voice their opposition to 5G and vaccines, or claim that the virus was a hoax, just days after a government warning, misinformation could impede progress to the level of alert 1.
That surprised scientific denial expert Dr. Fiona Crichton as the “most interesting” aspect of the protest, because it showed how people click on a conspiracy theory online and become targets for others through of social media algorithms.
“We know that the more you use the Internet, stumbling across a conspiracy theory, the more you’ll be exposed to,” he said.
“If you are the type of person who is perhaps a little disenfranchised right now, you don’t trust the government, you’re starting to believe that narrative.”
He said disinformation would be very distressing to people who did not understand the complete lack of scientific basis, but it also showed why the police should not take a punitive approach.
Dr. Crichton said the “flagrant breach” of the Alert Level 2.5 rules was a slap in the face to the people who have followed them, but supported the “educational approach” that the police were taking.
“If your thinking is … that the authorities are lying to you, the authorities that come and intervene and begin to be very forceful in the way they disperse people and maybe fine them, all they do is reinforce those beliefs. and deprives these people more of their rights, “he said.
Ross said his party will no longer participate in weekly rallies against the blockade.
