Maori protestors stop Prime Minister Key speech

Feb 4, 2012, 23:16 GMT

Wellington - Indigenous Maori protesters, angry at government plans to sell off parts of four state-owned energy companies, forced Prime Minister John Key to abandon a speech at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, on Sunday, news reports said.

Key was drowned out by chanting demonstrators as he tried to speak at a Maori meeting house on the first day of commemorations marking the Treaty of Waitangi, a pact between Maori tribes and British settlers on February 6, 1840.

As a large contingent of police kept the protesters at bay, Key was hustled away to his car by security officers.

Maoris suspect the government will not include a traditional clause saying the new owners of the partly privatized companies must honour provisions of the treaty.

The three legislators of the Maori Party, who support Key's conservative National Party, which lacks a majority in parliament, warned last week that they could withdraw their backing if the treaty clause is excluded.

Maoris are also angry at last week's announcement that 50 staff of the Ministry of Maori Development are to lose their jobs as part of a government cost-cutting drive.

Protesters holding signs reading 'Aotearoa (New Zealand) is not for sale' and shouting 'Go home National' greeted Key as he arrived with other cabinet ministers.

One protester heckled Maori legislators, including Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples, calling them 'niggers,' while others chanted, 'You should be ashamed of yourselves.'

Key said earlier that he would meet tribal leaders in the afternoon to discuss their concerns about honouring the treaty, which is regarded by all races as the country's founding document.

He is likely to face more demonstrators when he appears at official ceremonies marking Waitangi Day - a public holiday that is in effect New Zealand Day - on Monday.