Protesters gather at Fowlds Park

Note provided by John Mercer June-July 2021:

"These are ordinary people, real people who gathered for a common purpose – to express their disgust for and opposition to welcoming a touring rugby team from a country that systematically separated, mistreated and disenfranchised the majority of their population on the basis of skin colour.

The then Prime Minister embraced this passionate display of opposition from a large and diverse group of protestors as his path to another term of office by making it a law and order issue. That translated to denigrating and stereotyping protestors as ‘rent a crowd (presumably to explain the sheer number of protestors)', unwashed students, unemployed (unemployable) layabouts bent on mixing politics with the pristine sport of rugby, desirous of taking away average NZers enjoyment in watching the game and left wing intelligenzia intent on destroying the Kiwi way of life."