Shoppers munching on their lunch in Napier's CBD were briefly distracted by about 200 anti-mandate protesters on a day when 106 Covid 19 cases were announced for Hawke's Bay.
The march, preceded by the loud revving of a motorcycle, swung out of Dalton St into Dickens St and toward Marine Parade about 12.35pm, where protesters gathered on reserve land near the Sound Shell.
The gathered throng were told that if nothing came of Saturday's protests around the country, then more action would happen on March 1.
The crowd marched about an hour before daily Covid 19 figures were revealed.
Hawke's Bay had 106 cases detected via PCR tests and RAT tests.
Nationally there are 13,606 new community cases of Covid-19 on Saturday.
Daily numbers are rapidly escalating now rapid antigen tests (RATs) are revealing greater transmission in the community.
New Zealand's positivity rate - the percentage of tests that are positive - is now 27.4 per cent, which had increased from 10.9 per cent 24 hours earlier.