“Under the leadership of mana whenua, Protect Rotokākahi Incorporated has filed for interim enforcement orders in the Environment Court to immediately stop Rotorua Lakes Council’s construction of a sewage pipe through wāhi tapu by Lake Rotokākahi,” said spokesperson for court action Te Whatanui Leka Taumalolo Skipwith.

“Last night, over 100 police marched on our whenua and took control over this sacred area.”

“They forcefully and violently removed our protectors on site, and today they have allowed the council to start drilling where our ancestors are buried.”

“Many of our people were killed here by the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera. This is where our ancestors lie.”

“Our people have been shut out of this whole pipeline approval process, and now we are shut off our whenua while it is desecrated before our eyes. So, we are escalating to urgent legal action to immediately stop the drilling.”

“This builds on the Environment Court applications already filed last week. Rotorua Lakes Council never obtained the required resource consent for conducting earthworks around Lake Rotokākahi. We are asking the Environment Court for an urgent halt to the council’s works while the court considers this.”

“Our people are here to protect what is ours, and what is sacred. We deserve the chance to protect our wāhi tapu in court before it is too late.”

Mana whenua and their supporters are calling on people to join them on the whenua and bear witness as we show resistance throughout this desecration. The Protect Rotokākahi Instagram is urging a call-to-action for its supporters to “Show Up for a Shift” and hold the frontline as an expression of enduring peaceful protection.

“The fight is actually going to be done here on the whenua, at whawhai, at protections like Rotokākahi. Peaceful resistance is the way we are going to be able to have liberation. And the way we are going to be doing that is being able to stand together side by side,”

“And so that’s the reason why we’re here, we’ve always been here, we will never leave.”

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