TENS of thousands crowded the streets of the New Zealand capital Wellington today to protest at a law seeking to reshape the country’s founding treaty between the indigenous Maori people and the British crown. 

For many of the estimated 42,000 protesters, it was also a celebration of a resurgent Maori language and identity that colonisation had once almost destroyed.

“Just fighting for the rights that our tupuna, our ancestors, fought for,” Shanell Bob said as she waited for the march to begin. 

“We’re fighting for our tamariki, for our mokopuna, so they can have what we haven't been able to have,” she added, using the Maori words for children and grandchildren.

What was probably the country’s largest-ever protest in support of Maori rights followed a long tradition of peaceful cross-country marches that have marked turning points in the nation’s history.

“We’re going for a walk!” one organiser proclaimed from the stage as crowds gathered at the opposite end of the city from the parliament building. People had travelled from across New Zealand over the past nine days.

The Bill that marchers are opposing is unpopular and unlikely to become law. But opposition to it has been widespread, which marchers said indicated rising knowledge among New Zealanders of the Treaty of Waitangi’s promises to the Maori people.

As the marchers moved through the streets of Wellington with ringing Maori haka (rhythmic chants) and waiata (songs), thousands more holding signs lined the pavements in support.

Some placards bore jokes or insults directed at the MPs responsible for the legislation, which would change the meaning of the principles of the 1840 treaty and prevent them from applying only to the Maoris, whose chiefs signed the document when New Zealand was colonised.

The Bill’s author, libertarian politician David Seymour, who is Maori, says the process of redress for decades of crown breaches of the  treaty has led to special treatment for indigenous people, which he opposes.