-
Related
A stand-off over a controversial prison in Northland looks set to continue but work on the site is continuing.
Some local Maori are objecting to the construction of a jail at Ngawha, near Kaikohe, and the deadlock is heading to the high court.
Protesters are angry that work is being carried out before their appeal has been heard.
Extra fences and barricades were erected overnight Tuesday around the construction site after 37 protesters were arrested earlier in the day.
The protesters had been preventing access to the site but now work is under way behind the cordon.
The Green Party is backing the protesters and says work should stop until the objectors have had their final day in court.
The arrested protesters have all appeared in the Kaikohe court and were granted bail on condition that they stay away from the site.
The group includes prominent local kaumatua Ronald Ripi Wihongi who says the construction is already affecting sacred features of the site.
"They're cutting through the waterway and changing the direction of the stream," Wihongi said.
But claims that the site was once a burial ground are being disputed.
Annette Sykes, a lawyer for some of the protesters, says her clients were concerned bulldozers could destroy ancient burial sites on the land. But Sonny Tau from the Ngapuhi runanga, or iwi authority, says that claim has never been made before and is not true.
Tau says if that land had been used for burials, people opposed to the prison would have told the Environment Court about it long before now.
Latest Breakfast Video
-
te-karere-121111-fri - te-karere-121111-fri (0:22:30)
-
Marae Investigates - Series 2012, Episode 13
-
Marae Investigates - Series 2011, Episode 15 (0:29:10)
