By Emma Brannam
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira will appear in court next week after being charged for his involvement in a late night protest against the removal of state houses in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes.
The Mana Party leader, who was arrested along with six others, says he was there with his wife to show solidarity and support.
Harawira's arrest was captured on camera by fellow protestors.
He had been parked in the driveway of a state house being removed when police broke his window and got him out, albeit politely.
"They put these plastic cuffs on me and they said, 'They're not too tight, Mr Harawira?" he told 3 News.
The protests are against Housing New Zealand's plans to redevelop 156 properties in Glen Innes to create at least 260 new homes. It would own 78 of those, and at least 39 others would be owned or managed through other social or community housing providers.
The rest would be for private sale.
Harawira says the Government is breaking a promise it made in 2008 not to move anyone who didn't want to go.
"The Government then decided bugger, you we're going to move you anyway," says Harawira.
Mana Party vice-president John Minto says the Government is picking on the poor.
"The problem is those new houses will all be much higher costs, they'll be much higher rents and the people living in Glen Innes now will not be able to afford them because it's a low-income community."
Harawira will appear in court next Wednesday to fight the charge of failing to remove a vehicle from a road.
"I'm embarrassed to say that its a very petty charge, probably the lowest charge I've ever faced in my life," he says.
Today he's in Kaikohe to support another cause – the end of a 30-day hunger strike by beneficiary Sam Kuha.
3 News