WELLINGTON — Tens of thousands of New Zealanders rallied in front of parliament on Tuesday (Nov 19) in one of the country's largest ever protests to oppose a bill, which opponents say seeks to dilute the rights of Maori and threatens to set race relations back decades.

Massive crowds estimated by police at 42,000 gathered at parliament where the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced earlier this month by legislators who want to reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty signed between the British and Indigenous Maori.

The libertarian ACT New Zealand party, a junior partner in the ruling centre-right coalition government, is seeking to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens.

While the bill lacks enough support to pass, critics see in it a desire to reverse decades of policies that aimed to empower Maori, who make up around 20 per cent of the 5.3 million population but have higher levels of deprivation and incarceration and worse health outcomes than the broader population.

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