National leader Christopher Luxon says the behaviour of some anti-mandate protesters has been “totally unacceptable”.
He told Breakfast he had heard stories of abuse being hurled at Wellingtonians in the past few days.
“The bottom line is what's going on down there with the protesters is totally unacceptable,” he said.
“You’ve got a right to protest, but you've got to do it legally, respecting your fellow citizens.”
He added that he had been “very consistent” about denouncing abuse from protesters.
“We are rock solid on the protesters not being representative of what we want to see here in New Zealand,” Luxon said.
On Tuesday, Jacinda Ardern said the National leader had come “dangerously close to sympathy” for protest groups.
The anti-mandate protest is now in its sixteenth day. (Source: Breakfast)
Luxon explained that his earlier comments about division in the country had been about the “frustrations” of people who had “done the right thing”.
“They're incredibly frustrated about where we're going next. It's small business owners that now can't get rapid antigen tests… it’s tourist businesses,” he said. “It's actually people who are incredibly frustrated about, ‘where are we going?’”
Luxon continued: “I wanna be able to challenge that without being misrepresented as saying he's now condoning the behaviour of the protesters.”
He said the Government should be more clear about when and how they would ease vaccination mandates. Ardern has previously said once Omicron cases begin to fall, "that is the point where we can start doing things differently", in terms of restrictions and mandates.
Footage shows a large pile of rubbish bags on day 16 of the anti-mandate protest. (Source: Breakfast)
Meanwhile, the Opposition leader also said the country was heading into the Omicron outbreak in “pretty good shape” but said some were in an “old-school mindset” about the risk of the virus.
"We still probably think in an old-school mindset that a case is the same as a case was two years ago,” he said.
“We have treatments, we have vaccines - we’re probably the most vaccinated people on planet Earth - which is fantastic. So we go into this in pretty good shape.
He added that the Government should have increased intensive care and hospital capacity in preparation for the Omicron wave.
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