NZ Parly plays Barry Manilow hits to drive away vaccine mandate protesters
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- There are growing protests in Australia and New Zealand over Covid-19 regulations and vaccine mandates
- New Zealand's Parliament blasted out Barry Manilow songs to try and drive protesters away
Protests have been growing in Australia and New Zealand against strict Covid-19 rules and vaccine mandates.
10,000 protesters turned out in in Canberra on Saturday reports Australia correspondent Katy McDonald, some of them flying the national flag upside down.
While the numbers were lower in Wellington, New Zealand police made more arrests.
RELATED: New Zealand PM cancels own wedding after announcing stricter Covid rules
Authorities employed novel methods to try and disperse protesters from Parliament House - when turning on the sprinklers didn't work they resorted to blasting out music including Barry Manilow's greatest hits.
They say they're modelling the protests on what's been happening in Canada with the truckers. They've had protests outside their Parliament House that started on Tuesday...
Katie McDonald, Australia correspondent
The authorities put the sprinklers on and that wasn't working, so they decided to play Barry Manilow's greatest hits, interspersed with the Macarena and Covid vaccine messages, on 15-minute loops, to get rid of them!
Katie McDonald, Australia correspondent
I wonder how Barry Manilow would feel about that!
Amy MacIver, CapeTalk presenter
The protesters responded with that Twisted Sister song 'We're Not Gonna Take It'...
Katie McDonald, Australia correspondent
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's support is waning a bit over the handling of Covid-19 and vaccine mandates after she's been "on a pedestal" says McDonald.
You've got New Zealanders who can't get into New Zealand... They've got this hotel quarantine lottery system... People are tired; they want to keep living their lives and the numbers in New Zealand have been pretty small...
Katie McDonald, Australia correspondent
Scroll to the top of the article for the audio to listen to the interview
This article first appeared on CapeTalk : NZ Parly plays Barry Manilow hits to drive away vaccine mandate protesters
