The government has activated a top level national security group as the protest continues in and around Parliament.
The protest is into a tenth day. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
ODESC - the Officials' Committee for Domestic and External Security Coordination - is meeting today. The group is made up of chief executives of government agencies, and provides co-ordination on national security.
Speaking in Rotorua today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was not unusual for ODESC to meet.
"To give context it's agencies coming together, so that's happened at an agency level at the request of the New Zealand police because there are multiple agencies that are affected by the protest - the courts for instance sit opposite Parliament and have been affected."
She said it enabled agencies to coordinate their response together, and ODESC had been called in response to things like cyber incidents, the Auckland fuel shortage, the Rena, and weather events.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet said the meeting was to ensure there was "a shared understanding of the situation and that all risks and potential implications have been identified".
Police remain the lead agency responding to the protest.
The meeting is convened by the National Security System, which is coordinated from within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Ten days into the protest the anti-mandate demonstrators along with hundreds of their cars, trucks and campervans, remain embedded along half-a-dozen streets in Wellington. More people have arrived, and some have told RNZ they have no intention of moving.
Police have pulled back from their ultimatum to tow the vehicles of protesters blocking streets around Parliament, and acknowledge no vehicles have been towed away.
They say they have secured commitments from companies outside the region to help if a decision is made to start removing the vehicles of anti-vaccine mandate protesters.
National Recovery Alliance - a group of seven Auckland towing companies - spokesperson Chris Ratcliffe told Morning Report he was aware of others around the country which would heed the call if police decided to proceed with towing.
"Like most small businesses, towing and recovery has a broad spectrum of views so there are some people who will absolutely not be interested in participating.
Ardern said the protest was just the latest incarnation of opposition to the measures used throughout the pandemic to keep New Zealanders safe.
"That is not new. What is new is that for the first time New Zealand really is seeing this pandemic on our doorstep.
"We're seeing increasing cases - a significant increase today, and that's not unexpected - but it demonstrates that actually amongst the activity on the forecourt the major focus for me and the govt has to be the growing pandemic and keeping people safe.
"There will be a time when it is safe to move away from restrictions in the same way we moved away from lockdowns and we're opening our borders. But right now is not that time."
She said she did not expect the protest to change quickly, and it would take time to deal with, but what the protesters were doing was illegal.
"Protest is not illegal in New Zealand. Building camps on the lawn of Parliament, obstructing the ability of young people to go to school, of workers to operate, and harassing those who are wearing masks and taking measures to keep themselves safe - that is what is unacceptable.
