Maori mark NZ national day with haka, protests

WELLINGTON

Bare-chested Maori bellowed haka chants on Thursday to mark New Zealand's national day, holding spirited ceremonies as critics accuse the government of eroding Indigenous rights.

The national holiday marks the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between Maori chiefs and colonizing British forces, widely seen as the birth of modern New Zealand.

More than 80,000 people were expected to travel to Waitangi in northern New Zealand for the annual procession of speeches, song and protest.

This year's events have been charged by the introduction of a bill that seeks to redefine the founding treaty.

"It seems our spouse, the Crown, has filed for divorce while we were blissfully unaware," Methodist Church leader Te Aroha Rountree said in an early-morning Waitangi Day speech.

Scores of Maori men in traditional garb lined the shore outside the Waitangi treaty grounds for a mass haka performance on Thursday morning.

A fleet of traditional "waka" canoe were then launched into calm waters for a ceremonial parade.

Elsewhere in New Zealand, hundreds of protesters marched through major cities such as Wellington and Christchurch.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was criticized for steering clear of Waitangi, where past prime ministers have traveled to meet with leading Maori.

He instead visited a "marae," or Maori meeting house, in New Zealand's South Island.