{"id":268368,"date":"2026-02-05T04:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/268368\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T04:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:26:17","slug":"waitangi-2026-thursday-in-pictures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/268368\/","title":{"rendered":"Waitangi 2026: Thursday in pictures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe people of Ng\u0101puhi deliver a powerful haka, welcoming parliamentarians onto the upper Waitangi Treaty Grounds.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

The prime minister and other MPs were welcomed back onto the Waitangi Treaty Grounds<\/a> on Thursday morning as the long weekend gets underway.<\/p>\n

RNZ photographers and journalists were on the ground covering the events.<\/p>\n

Here’s how the day unfolded in pictures.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe grounds on Thursday morning.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe calm before crowds arrived.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Banners<\/p>\n

\nBanners put up by protestors around the Treaty Grounds.
\nPhoto: CRAIG MCCULLOCH \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Waitangi<\/p>\n

\nPreparing for the p\u014dwhiri at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

\nPeople gather at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.
\nPhoto: GILES DEXTER \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Waitangi<\/p>\n

\nShortly before the p\u014dwhiri.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Many<\/p>\n

\nMany people were wearing red blankets emblazoned with words referring to Te Tiriti, whenua and He Whakaputanga.
\nPhoto: Pokere Paewai \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe p\u014dwhiri.
\nPhoto: GILES DEXTER \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

\nProtesters at Waitangi led by Wikitana Popata.
\nPhoto: CRAIG MCCULLOCH \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe p\u014dwhiri.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nPoliticians watch on.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"PM,<\/p>\n

\nThe Prime Minister Christopher Luxon being welcomed alongside side NZ First leader Winston Peters.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n

\"Thursday<\/p>\n

\nThe p\u014dwhiri.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Thursday<\/p>\n

\nMany donned Paraikete whero (Red blankets).
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Luxon<\/p>\n

\nLuxon and Peters talk at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n

\"Crowds<\/p>\n

\nCrowds at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds on Thursday.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA Waitangi guest.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Performers<\/p>\n

\nPerformers at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

\nLabour leader Chris Hipkins at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

\nGreen co-leaders Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick and Marama Davidson sit alongside ACT’s deputy leader Brooke van Velden.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\nTe P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leader Rawiri Waititi speaking at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

\nPolice Minister Mark Mitchell at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

\nLabour leader Chris Hipkins speaks at Waitangi.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

\"NZ<\/p>\n

\nNZ First leader Winston Peters speaks.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/p>\n

\nPrime Minister Christopher Luxon sits beside coalition party leaders Winston Peters and David Seymour.
\nPhoto: MARK PAPALII \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people of Ng\u0101puhi deliver a powerful haka, welcoming parliamentarians onto the upper Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Photo: Layla…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-268368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}