February 19 2022
There were 1901 new Covid-19 cases in the community today as more people head to Wellington's protester-occupied Parliament grounds. Video / NZ Herald / George Heard / Mike Scott
A structure next to the Wellington cenotaph on Parliament grounds was planned to be a shower, not a toilet, the man building it says.
People protesting the Covid-19 vaccination mandates, and a slew of other causes and grievances, arrived on the grounds as part of a anti-mandate convoy 11 daysago and have remained since - joined by hundreds more - setting up a camp that now resembles a small village.
But anger erupted on social media overnight after people began tweeting photos of the structure, a wooden fence and posts covered by a blue tarpaulin and hard against part of the cenotaph.
oh my word - this is simply heartbreaking. All our war heroes being shat on by utter thugs. Shame on them all cos even the Yoga crowd are selling their souls staying in this ugly atmosphere https://t.co/Q6ALSVbCFH
in NZ, anti-mandate protestors demand respect by shitting, pissing and scribbling on the war memorial cenotaph commemorating the lives of those lost fighting nazis. cool job đ pic.twitter.com/Pts2cmwlxS
The structure wasn't the only protest action affecting the cenotaph.
Photos posted to social media showed parts of the memorial covered in chalked messages and drawings.
"In NZ, anti-mandate protestors demand respect by ... scribbling on the war memorial cenotaph commemorating the lives of those lost fighting nazis. cool job", one person tweeted.
Another tweeted that they "cannot imagine how much anger veterans must feel when they see what that lot have done to the cenotaph, a place people congregate to remember our fallen".
Some protesters have previously referenced New Zealand's war dead and veterans in challenging the mandates, and other Government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The RSA couldn't immediately be contacted for comment.
A Herald reporter at the site this morning didn't see any graffiti on the cenotaph, but a man addressing the hundreds of protesters referenced claims of graffiti on the war memorial.
Veterans had expressed their displeasure at the graffiti, the man said, urging people to not add more and help remove what had already been done.
