CNN —Tens of thousands of people have marched on the New Zealand parliament in Wellington to protest against a bill that critics say strikes at the core of the country’s founding principles and dilutes the rights of Māori people. The traditional peaceful Māori walk, or hīkoi, culminated outside parliament on Tuesday, where protesters implored lawmakers to reject the controversial Treaty Principles Bill that seeks to reinterpret the 184-year-old treaty between British colonizers and hundreds of Māori tribes. “Today is a show of kotahitanga (unity), solidarity and being one as a people and uphold our rights as Indigenous Māori,” marcher Tukukino Royal told Reuters. The Treaty Principles Bill was introduced by David Seymour, leader of the right-wing ACT New Zealand Party, which is a junior coalition partner with the ruling National and New Zealand First parties. Hīkoi leader Eru Kapa-Kingi told the crowd “Māori nation has been born” today and that “Te Tiriti is forever,” RNZ reported.

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Persons: marcher Tukukino Royal, Sanka Vidanagama, –, Māori disenfranchisement, David Seymour, Seymour, Te, “, Eru Kapa, Kingi, Tiriti, ” RNZ Organizations: CNN, New, Police, Reuters, Getty, Zealanders, ACT New Zealand Party, New Zealand, Radio New Zealand Locations: New Zealand, Wellington, Zealand’s, AFP, Waitangi, Zealand’s Treaty, Māori, United States, British