By Rachel Morton
There was a touch of the Copenhagen climate change protests about Wellington this morning, with arrests after a building was climbed and a banner unfurled.
The protesters targeted the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry offices and the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
A protestor as young 14 years old was arrested in the crackdown, the young girl clearly overwhelmed by her brush with the law.
Vera Williams was one of eight climate change protesters arrested in front of the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
Vera’s big sister was also arrested and, like the others, let go from Wellington Central police station with a warning for disorderly behaviour.
“I just don't think that the world leaders can handle climate change to be honest,” she says.
“I think that if a bunch of ten children got together in a room they could sort it out better than what is currently happening - so that's my view on it.”
Protesters say they targeted the exchange because it owns shares in Markit Environmental Registry - which trades carbon credits.
Protestor Gary Cranston says carbon credits are a joke.
“These carbon credits are used to give people the impression that something's being done about climate change - when it actually isn't,” he says.
Just over a kilometre up the road on Lambton Quay, John Darroch and a fellow protestor had scaled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade building to draw attention to agriculture's role in climate change.
Mr Darroch says the protests were calling people to action about climate change.
“Well of course a banner drop isn't going to change the world but I do think it's really important that people start getting out on the street, start mobilising and start building a people based movement to reduce climate change,” he says.
The protester who hadn't been arrested at the NZX building came to cheer him on and curious members of the public stopped to see what the commotion was about.
After about four hours they came down - police decided not to press charges.
Inspector Simon Perry, of the Wellington Police, says the arrests were to dissuade future dangerous styles of protest.
“I think on this occasion we could see that these people were quite skilled in that particular type of activity but we wouldn't encourage it because of the fact that there is danger to them and there's obviously danger to people in the building who try to stop them,” he says.
The protesters though are vowing to continue their action - claiming world leaders failed at Copenhagen and it's now up to people power to encourage change.
3 News