I wasn't going to go downtown Sunday night, but ended up going down with some visitors from out of town. It was a very different atmosphere from Saturday. The site is still fully occupied, but the dense crowds had gone, leaving a feeling of peace over the area.
It was fun to find a highly decorated "Goodbye Pork Pie" yellow mini. Ah, that was such a fun movie... The second one was good too, but I was thinking of the first one, and showing my age.
The area in front of the Parliamentary library has become the church area. There was a small group singing in fellowship on the steps and signs of their presence inside.
Unfortunately that peace didn't last long. (Sorry, another long post!)
HEAD TO HEAD WITH POLICE, AGAIN (AND AGAIN)
There was talk of cars being towed from the bus stops on Sunday night, but I don't know what happened there. Possibly just a few were moved. It was what happened Monday morning that was distressing for a lot of people. After reading what was said on Stuff, watching a few live streams, and hearing some of what was said afterwards, here's what I think went down.
Police realise they can't move the protest on, but decided to put in some concrete blocks around the outskirts of the occupation, so new people can't come in, and they can keep at least some traffic flow around the area. They will let cars out, and let residents, office workers, foot traffic, food and the portaloo guys in and out.
They told some people on the inside - Leighton Baker, and maybe some others - that it would happen but not when. Once the time was decided, either they didn't manage to inform anyone, or the people they informed decided it was best not to pass it on to the people. [Leighton Baker later took full responsibility for his part in the communication breakdown, but I haven't heard of anyone else doing the same.]
When 300 police came to place the blocks, in the early hours of the morning, the protestors thought it was a raid and rushed to hold the line. The police could have said what they were there for, and maybe defused the situation. I don't know if that happened. They could have changed tack and found a different way to make it happen, maybe. But what went down was another head to head between police and protesters who were just standing there singing the National Anthem. The police charged, pushed people back physically and eventually the blocks got placed. (I cried watching footage from TheBriarRose).
My first thought was that it was a badly handled cock up. Another more cynical member of my household thinks that maybe it was a deliberate attempt to cause a riot. Given how things have played out since, he might be right.
Monday night, there was another kerfuffle. Seems like two different incidents, but possibly around the same time. The police came to tow the last car in Bowen Street, which upset some people , though I think eventually the owner removed the car himself. Also, not naming names, but someone announced on his media channel that the concrete blocks needed to be addressed and removed. He was conveniently off site at the time, but looks like some followers took him at his word. I saw some footage of some blocks being moved, while police just seemed to be standing by. But when I went downtown this afternoon, the row of blocks looked complete again.
And that's still not the end of it. Tuesday morning about 6.30am, the police decided it would be a good idea to move some of the concrete blocks a bit more down Molesworth Street, to further limit the protest area. The result of that was so predictable that one would have to suspect that the real goal was to incite an upset. You've probably heard that a protestor in a car drove straight at police at one point. Yes, it seems that this was a protestor. There are still some issues with some in the camp, or maybe on the outskirts, who are not aligned with the rest and security are working on that.
And no, STILL not the end of it. As I was heading home at about 5pm tonight, there were a crowd of people facing a lot of police at the corner of Bowen and Lambton. I asked a couple of women with a dog what was happening and they said the police had tried to move the concrete blocks again. In heavens name, why? Maybe there's something I'm not considering, but I can't see any point in disrupting the rush hour traffic unless you wanted to make it look like the protestors were causing trouble.
That's gotta be coming from above, as I don't think the rank and file want to see this happening. I had a good chat with a young WPC manning the barricades in upper Hill Street. One of the things we discussed was my concern about the people in amongst the peaceful crowd that were deliberately agitating. She said they were aware that was happening, so it's good to know they see it too.
One other concern with the police though is that a couple of people I spoke to today confirmed they had seen UN forces amongst the police - no badges or identification, so easy to pick out. Apparently they are trained in how to force confrontation, so be aware and be careful, guys.
OTHER, MORE SUBTLE, WEAPONS
The other day I said I hoped Ardern doesn't go the way of ScoMo and use energy weapons. Sorry to say I fear she is, just a bit more subtly. Published on the Horus Media Telegram page yesterday was a video of someone measuring the EMF outputs from the Beehive and the British High Commission - around 4 and 9 respectively on Monday. The readings on Sunday were about 2.5, which was already so much higher than the usual of about 0.4. There were a lot of reports of people feeling ill yesterday and a friend described the energy as being like swimming through some kind of dark soup. Someone I met today showed me sunburn like lesions on his face that had appeared after spending the last two days in camp.
Can you believe I've lived in Wellington my whole life and never seen the British High Commission and the back of Parliament before?
EDIT: Though have just found out there has been a solar flare in recent days, so it's possible that's what caused it.
Today the community took action. A lot of healers have been sending remote energy for the whole two weeks, but that got ramped up today. As well as that, two healing circles took place within the grounds, one at 11:11am and one at 2:22pm. Both of those had a big impact on the feeling within the camp.
I don't think anybody really knows exactly what we're dealing with here. This machine has appeared on the roof of the old Parliament Buildings.
It doesn't look like LRAD (long range acoustic device, or sonar weapon) as the ones deployed in Canberra looked like speakers. Some of the tactics used by Mallard would fall into this category, though at a lower level.
It could be emitting dangerous frequencies and causing the high EMF readings, but it doesn't quite look like that either. It almost looks like it could be used to distribute some substance. Does anybody know what it is?
POLITICIANS POPPING IN TO VISIT
The Wellington Mayor, Andy Foster, is a bit upset. He says he wants our public places back. I wouldn't want to upset him further by ignoring his contribution to the last 48 hours of news. To give him some credit, he did take a walk down to Parliament grounds and chat to a few people about why they were there. But I can't help but think it's too little, too late. News flash, Andy - we are upset at the loss of access to our public places that we are paying rates for, and have told you so in great detail. Did you listen? Did you act? I didn't think so.
This afternoon, there was a bit of uproar at one point. It seemed Winston Peters had also come to visit. I was rather perturbed to see a mass of people chanting in what seemed to be support of him, and following him around. But I haven't forgotten how he betrayed us when he was "in bed" with Jacinda. Fool me once, shame on you...
DANGER TO PUBLIC HEALTH!
I know, you think I'm finally going to address the issue of the poop, so I will briefly. First, it being thrown at police. Honestly, if you believe that happened, I don't even know what to say. Sure, it's not impossible, but really, how likely is it? It does appear possible though that some sticky substance was thrown this morning, as an officer as seen having his eyes cleaned. Not cool, whoever that was.
EDIT - I have just seen a video that seems to show that the cops pepper sprayed their own, and then blamed the protestors. Could this possibly be true? It seems more likely, don't you think?
And the rumour that the waste from the portaloos is being dumped in the harbour? I wish I'd had chance to ask the WPC I talked to about that, to be able to reassure you that they are still being emptied three times a day. But they have all been moved to locations near to entrances, which seems to indicate they are been cleaned. Otherwise, why move them?
WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO TALK ABOUT IS THIS
Several days ago, the MoH admitted there didn't appear to be any cases at the protest. So apparently they're testing the waste water now, to see if there could be any undetected cases on site. But even if the test comes up positive, how significant is that, in the context of the rest of the positive cases around the country?
Monday, on Stuff, I read that the MoH has warned that there are more cases than are being reported because asymptomatic cases are being found when they report to ED for other health issues. Think for a moment about what that means...
Todays stats:
- Active cases - 18,628 (but the MoH have just told us there are more than that)
- Cases in hospital - 143 (but the MoH have just told us some are asymptomatic and there for other reasons)
- % of cases in hospital = 0.8% at the most (and we know the active cases are understated)
- Number of cases in ICU = 1 = 0.005% of active cases
- Number of deaths = 2 = 0.01% of active cases at this stage (this is a very rough figure as some will have recovered, putting the % down, and more may die later, putting it up)
Of course that could all change and those %'s could get worse as time goes on, but at this stage it does appear nowhere near as serious an illness. So do the public health measures need to be anywhere as draconian?
What do we want? Freedom from Mandates.
When do we want it? Months ago, but since that's impossible, Now will do.
HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY END WELL?
A question I was asked today. I still have absolutely no idea what will happen. It really does appear that there is no solution that will keep everyone happy. But lets ask this question instead "What would it take for a peaceful resolution?" or this one "How can we all build an equitable community together?" and then leave space for an answer our limited human minds can't even envisage yet.
Another question we could ask: "How might it change NZ society if freedom villages sprang up all over the country?" This is starting to happen, so we may know before too long.
Staying together in love, dealing with those who can't align to that and repairing any fractures before they become breaks is vital at this point.
Freedom fighters, go get some sleep. The daily wake up call from your friends in blue might be happening in a few short hours. Be well rested, and continue to greet them with love.
My previous posts:
Day 1 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-day-1
Days 2 & 3 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-days-2
Day 4 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-day-4
Day 5 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-day-5
Day 6 - @kiwideb/convey-nz-2022-day-6
Day 7 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-day-7
Day 8 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-day-8
Days 9 & 10 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-days-9
Days 11 to 13 - @kiwideb/convoy-nz-2022-days-11