Dozens of protesters still camped at Auckland's southern border, no further arrests made

No further arrests have been made in relation to a group of protesters still camped at Auckland's southern border checkpoint this morning.

Police say there have been no significant issues regarding the protesters since yesterday.

Up to 75 people stayed on the side of the road at the southern boundary checkpoint at Mercer, south of Auckland, last night.

There was no disruption to traffic - which was light - overnight.

A police spokesman said officers will continue to monitor the group throughout the day to make sure the safety of everyone involved - as well as members of the public travelling through the checkpoint - is kept.

The spokesman said no more arrests have been made since a woman was arrested and warned for obstruction and a vehicle removed from the road.

Authorities said last night that officers at the southern checkpoint had been engaged with the group of protesters and the occupants of two vehicles involved - a car and a bus deliberately parked to block traffic on State Highway 1.

"The occupants refused repeated requests to move the vehicles throughout the day, claiming to have an exemption to travel through the checkpoint."

Police later established that two people in one of the vehicles had been granted an exemption for permitted travel across the boundary.

However, occupants of the bus did not have any evidence showing they had permission to travel and they subsequently moved the bus off the highway late yesterday afternoon.

There are no protesters at the northern State Highway 1 checkpoint at Te Hana.

Group not welcome at Waitangi

The group stuck at the southern border claim to be heading to Waitangi, but local Māori leaders have told them they are not welcome there.

Te Tai Tokerau Border Control founder Hone Harawira slammed the hīkoi, calling it the "white man's march to nowhere".

He told Newstalk ZB the protesters were taking He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nū Tīreni celebrations and turning it into an "anti-government march".

"They wanted to use our independence celebrations as a way of being able to just bust through the borders and say 'we are free, we are free'."

He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand) was signed in Waitangi on October 28, 1835, by 34 northern chiefs. Commemorations in normal years draw large numbers of people to the campground next to Te Tii Marae.

Harawira described the group as ''Pākehā anti-vaxxers'' trying to take over He Whakaputanga commemorations.