How NZ's colonial government misused laws to crush non-violent dissent at Parihaka
- Written by Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato

This week, Māori in the Taranaki region remembered the “day of plunder” – the 1881 government invasion of Parihaka, the small settlement that had come to symbolise peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land.
It was one of the most brutal events...