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VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff
Protesters have been occupying the site for more than three weeks.
Protesters occupying a Waka Kotahi worksite in protest of the $280 million Mt Messenger Bypass have been arrested after refusing to leave the area.
The group of protesters set up at the top of Mt Messenger more than three weeks ago, calling on the nation’s transport agency to change its plans and upgrade the existing highway, rather than build a new road through the Mangapepeke Valley.
Campbell Martin-Kemp said she was at the camp when nine police officers turned up around 9:30am on Thursday and told protesters they had one hour to vacate or be forcibly removed.
She left and took her younger siblings back to Waitara and alleged more than 100 police, some of them armed, were waiting at the bottom of Mt Messenger in another Waka Kotahi worksite.
READ MORE:
* Mt Messenger Bypass works to begin, expect travel disruptions – Waka Kotahi
* Resealing brings four hour closure of State Highway 3 over Mt Messenger on Saturday
* SH3 at Mt Messenger to close at times while road repairs take place
Police have not said how many officers were involved in the operation to remove the protesters.
Work has stopped at a key construction site of the $280 million Te Ara o Te Ata bypass of Mt Messenger.
Martin-Kemp said there were about six protesters on site when she left but she had passed a carload heading to Mt Messenger as she drove down, as there had been posts on social media calling for more protesters to join the group.
After dropping her siblings off in Waitara she returned to Mt Messenger but found herself stuck in traffic, as State Highway 3 was closed.
About 10:45am, Waka Kotahi sent out a press release advising of road closure due to a “police operation” but did not elaborate any further.
Posts made by protesters to social media on Thursday morning showed they were aware police were coming and that they hoped to have a “korero” with them.
In an emailed statement sent out at 2.15pm Inspector Phil Gillbanks, Relieving Area Commander, Taranaki Police confirmed officers took action on Thursday to enforce a trespass notice on behalf of Waka Kotahi.
The action had followed regular engagement and attempts at mediation by Police between the unlawful occupiers and Waka Kotahi over the last month, which ended with the protesters being issued a trespass notice last week.
Since then, police staff had been visiting the site daily to encourage the occupiers to comply with the trespass notice and peacefully leave the site of their own accord, Gillbanks said.
“Unfortunately a small number of the occupiers present refused to leave the site as requested today, and were subsequently arrested by police.”
Gillbanks said six people who refused to leave the camp were arrested for trespass, while four others were arrested at roadblocks for obstruction.
Due to the remoteness of the location in a confined travel corridor, it was necessary to close State Highway 3 for safety reasons while police entered and resolved the situation, Gillbanks said.
The highway reopened shortly after 2pm after being closed a little more than three hours.
When the road re-opened a damaged police car was leading the northbound traffic and some of the protesters could be seen in the back of police vehicles.
During the road closure, traffic backed up on the southern side of Mt Messenger for up to 5km.
Mike Carter and Des Adams were on their way to a pharmacy reunion in Rotorua in a campervan when they got caught up in the line.
The pair said they were upset by the inconvenience the protesters were causing, especially since they had been trespassed and not moved on, and wondered whether they were “professional protesters”.
Another woman in the line was Kerina White who said her daughter was amongst those at the protest camp.
She said the numbers at the camp overnight on Wednesday were not huge.
“This is not necessary,” she said.
White belongs to Ngāti Tama and said the majority of the iwi members were in favour of the bypass but others, like her, were not.
Last week protesters said they were in it for the long haul. As their numbers grew and they traded trespass notices with Waka Kotahi.
The $280 million Te Ara o Te Ata bypass of Mt Messenger is Taranaki’s biggest roading project.
The occupation is the latest attempt to change course of the State Highway 3 project, which was first proposed in 2016 when the Government announced it would invest up to $105m for bypasses at Mt Messenger and the Awakino tunnel.
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