February 22 2022
Police are "appalled" by the behaviour this morning of protesters in Wellington that has seen three officers hospitalised after being sprayed with a "stinging substance", possibly acid.
People associated with the protest at Parliament were seen licking their hands before pressing the button at a pedestrian crossing in central Wellington.
Authorities are calling for members of the public to report these types of incidents so they can review CCTV footage and find those involved.
A Wellington residentsaid he first saw it happen at the corner of Waterloo Quay and Bunny St - less than 500 metres away from Parliament - on Monday morning.
"I wasn't sure if that's what I saw. It wasn't until I was standing next to one of them and he pretty blatantly did it," he told the Herald.
The second time he saw the same thing happen, later that day, he said he immediately realised what protesters were doing.
Although the resident was disgusted and wanted to confront the protesters, he said there was a group of around six of them and he didn't feel comfortable confronting them on his own. Members of the group were wearing anti-vaccine mandate T-shirts and were heard discussing their family and friends coming to join the protest.
"It just horrified me because the button had been pushed when the red man was [already showing]."
The Wellington City Council said it doesn't condone "this idiotic anti-social behaviour" and is asking anyone who witnesses it to report the time and place to a nearby local host, a police officer or to call 105.
