Cyclone, Barry Manilow fail to dislodge New Zealand anti-vaccine protesters

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Cyclone Dovi has caused power outages, mudslides and evacuations across New Zealand but neither the storm nor the music of Barry Manilow could dislodge anti-vaccine protesters camped outside parliament, AFP reports.

Instead, hundreds of protesters — inspired by the “Freedom Convoy” of truckers in Canada — danced in the mud to the tunes meant to force their dispersal. Not even a tongue-in-cheek offer of help from singer James Blunt could end the stand-off in the capital Wellington, which entered the sixth day with no sign of ending.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told Television New Zealand there was a “sad element” to the protest. “Every New Zealander has a right to peaceful protest, the problem is they have gone well beyond that,” he said. “I do find the rhetoric of these protests highly disturbing ... there is a sad element to it, there is a conspiracy theory element that people have been sucked in by.”

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