February 22 2022
PM Jacinda Ardern has described the behaviour of protesters and attacks on police in Wellington as "disgraceful".
Police have angered residents of Wellington's Molesworth St by cordoning off public car parks outside their national headquarters for their own use.
The street is already under partial blockade thanks to the parliamentary protest, and residents are frustrated at further disruption caused by the police taking some of the fewremaining car parks for themselves.
The car parks, which are for the public and managed by Wellington City Council, have been the subject of a long battle between police and local residents.
It is understood residents are frustrated at the fact the police often take over the car parks using traffic cones, despite an abundance of commercial parking nearby. One resident criticised the fact police were not communicating with local residents who were getting their information from the media.
When alert level 2 restrictions were in place in Wellington, police took over the car parks, citing "a staff safety issue for returning to distant cars late in the evening".
The police took over the car parks during alert level 2 using an agreement with the council that they could use parking when the city was in Covid restrictions. Local residents were frustrated that a perk which was designed to help the police when Wellington was in lockdown, was being used to give staff free parking when the city was at a lower alert level.
A spokeswoman for the police said the response to the Wellington protest was being " managed from the Major Operations Centre at Police National Headquarters" on Molesworth St.
They said the car parks allowed "direct and immediate access to the building for staff working on the operational response, including police staff from other policing districts who were brought in to support the response".
A spokesman for Wellington City Council confirmed the council had "given over a number of car parks for police use, given the special circumstances presented by the parliamentary occupation".
