A protest which took place next to Wānaka’s high school at the end of the school day yesterday (Friday March 4) has been criticised by the school’s principal and some parents.

Twenty or so people gathered on Lismore Park opposite Mount Aspiring College (MAC) and held signs which showed a range of slogans from ‘Unmask our Kids’ to ‘Teachers for Choice: No Mandates’, ‘Ban the Vax Pass’ and ‘Stand up to the Bully’. 

MAC principal Nicola Jacobsen told the Wānaka App the school alerted the police to the protesters’ presence and added additional staff to support students leaving school for the day.

“I can imagine that some students would have felt intimidated and quite worried by what the signs said,” she said. “There is no place for this outside of a school - a place where all students need to feel welcome.”

Some parents voiced their anger about the protest to the Wānaka App. PHOTO: Supplied

Nicola said it would have been the first time students had experienced a protest outside their school.

She defended the Covid-19 mitigation measures the school was following.

“As a school we are all trying our best to keep our students and staff safe by following and implementing what the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health have put in place,” Nicola said.

The Wānaka App was contacted by a number of parents who were unimpressed by the protest.

Emily Duguid, a parent of two MAC students, told the Wānaka App she is “all for peaceful protest, but it is not appropriate to target children”. 

“I’m enraged they brought this to the school. They stood in a formation that looked militant and menacing. Children leaving school looked nervous, huddled in groups, and many had to walk along the path to town close by the protesters,” she said.

Another parent told the Wānaka App the protest reminded her of “hawkers in markets trying to get first go at you”.

“It was a one way demonstration - no honking of horns in agreement or cheers of support like when they set up in town and like minded adults could respond to them. Because their target audience was children - who didn’t know how to respond and were probably intimidated and confused, unlike when they seek guidance and information from their parents in their home environment.”

A member of the protest group told the Wānaka App they are “for the kids, hence being there today”.

They said the group deliberately stood on the embankment opposite the school “in order not to cause any feeling of intimidation or to avoid any exchanges of any kind”. 

“This created a space where our signs could be viewed and read,” they said. 

They described the event as “a very peaceful gathering and a great success”.

“We had no exchange whatsoever with pupils, or in fact, any other members of the public,” they said, adding that one man drove past “swearing out his window at us for being there”.

The protest was not organised by Voices For Freedom.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App