Following others across the country, more than a thousand anti-TPP protesters marched through Hastings CBD yesterday.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement was signed at 11.30am yesterday in Auckland by representatives of 12 countries from across the Pacific rim, who account for 40 per cent of the global economy.
Despite this, the crowd in Hastings, which organisers said was the biggest they'd ever seen, set off just after 5pm.
Starting at Hastings War Memorial Library, a crowd of young and old marched from Hastings War Memorial Library, passing Tukituki MP Craig Foss' office and the Hastings District Council. Whakatu woman Aki Paipper said she was marching because she opposed the non-consultation of the TPP, with Maori and on all levels.
"This is our opportunity to show solidarity with our Hawke's Bay whanau," she said. "It's amazing to see the nation stand up and speak as one. We are demonstrating to our leaders that it's the people they represent... we are being treated like a commodity."