A weekend of protests

No War with Syria march organiser Douglas Pearson directs the Saturday protest. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A Whangarei student has pleaded with young people in Northland to start voting in national and local elections to improve decision-making at all levels of governance.

Stacey Henderson, 19, said recent decision by the National Government to bulldoze various policies such as the GCSB Bill through Parliament should spur all right-thinking Kiwis into action.

She was among about 100 people who took part in a Demo for Democracy rally in Whangarei yesterday.

The rally was against the GCSB spy bill, genetically-engineered crops, asset sales, toxic mining and, as organisers put it, "various dodgy National Party policies".

Ms Henderson said she wasn't eligible to vote in the last general election but she would take part in the local government polls in October.

"It's time young people should start voting, even in local body elections because it's important your views are heard and that you trust the person leading your town and country," she said.

Mostly senior citizens turned up for the march that began on Cameron St and ended up at Laurie Hall Park where various speakers addressed the crowd.

Organiser Beverley Gott said about 110 people were linked to the event's home page on Facebook before the march.

"It's [the march] for us to come together as a community and an opportunity to connect with each other and to start dialogue to change things."

Meanwhile, just under 100 people defied the drizzle to gather at the Kerikeri Domain grandstand yesterday for what organiser Marty Robinson called a "picnic for democracy".

Issues debated included GCSB powers to spy on New Zealanders, Resource Management Act changes and a proposal to cut the snapper limit for recreational fishers.

And on Saturday in Whangarei, another march protested against the war in Syria. Syrian descendant Tony Moukharris, whose grandparents were from the war-torn nation, joined in. Mr Moukharris, a hospital worker, did not believe foreign intervention was needed in Syria, where he said violence wasn't fomented by the government alone.