Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says meeting with Restore Passenger Rail protesters is ‘off the table’

Wellington’s Mayor says her offer to meet with the protesters who have blocked roads is off the table after they decided to continue their actions.

Tory Whanau told Wellington Morning’s Nick Mills this morning there is no chance of a meeting with Restore Passenger Rail after they glued themselves to Adelaide Rd and stopped traffic during rush hour.

She said it was frustrating that the protesters had not taken the opportunity to meet with her and find a way forward.

“They have not moved forward in good faith, they have disrupted Wellingtonians, they have disrupted the lives of normal people instead of the Government’s.”

Whanau said the protest caused widespread disruption and now any meeting with her is off-limits.

“I need to represent the Wellingtonians who are frustrated.”

“I’m frustrated – I need to emphasise, I support peaceful protest, but this is not the way to do it. I will not meet with them.”

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It was the second protest in a week and saw five members of the group arrested and charged with endangering traffic and breach of court bail.

On Thursday morning the group stopped traffic and several buses which had to be re-routed, and police spent 45 minutes attempting to remove the protesters, who were aged between 45 and 75.

Whanau had offered the group the chance to meet with her and discuss an action plan after Monday’s protest – an offer that was not pursued by Restore Passenger Rail.

“I made an offer to meet with them on Monday, but they chose not to get in touch.”

Restore Passenger Rail spokesperson Rosemary Penwarden told the Herald the group will not apologise for the disruption - but she does understand the frustrations of the public.

“Nobody likes being stuck in traffic and all of our biggest cities, we all know we’re all used to this. It’s horrible having to do that but we do not apologise. Instead, we ask people to just please look at the big picture here, we need to be taking action.”

The group says it will continue to protest until the Government commits to two measures; restore affordable nationwide passenger rail and make local public transport free.