New Zealand rocked by Māori protests on child removals and use of sacred land

Māori leaders are staging two major protests in New Zealand, straining relations with the Labour coalition government and drawing accusations that Jacinda Ardern – who is visiting the remote Pacific territory of Tokelau – is a “part-time prime minister”.

On Tuesday, hundreds of activists marched on parliament house in Wellington, as well as other New Zealand cities, calling for an overhaul of the government’s child welfare agency, Oranga Tamariki [Ministry for Children], amid a series of controversial cases in which Māori children and newborns were taken into state care.

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