Thousands of New Zealanders Protest for Freedom After 6 Weeks in Lockdown – By Mimi Nguyen Ly (Epoch Times) / Oct 3 2021
Thousands of people in New Zealand gathered in Auckland and multiple locations across the nation on Saturday in a show of solidarity against alleged government tyranny and in support of freedom.
Auckland, with a population of about 1.7 million, continues to be under a government-prescribed lockdown that limits movement with the exception of certain “permitted reasons.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had enforced a nationwide snap lockdown on Aug. 17 in response to the nation’s first case of the Delta variant. She then said in September that she is aiming for a 90 percent vaccination rate before she will move away from lockdown orders. This includes in Māori and Pasifika populations, which will be difficult due to hesitancy and people who choose not to take the vaccine.
With the exception of Auckland, New Zealand has largely returned to less restrictive operations under “Alert Level 2.” The city was also downgraded to the looser lockdown Alert Level 3 on Sept. 21, although the government warned that it could announce Level 4 restrictions at any time. On Sunday, Ardern announced another five-day snap lockdown at Level 3 for parts of regional Waikato after two new cases were detected.
