Anti-Immigration and Anti-Multifaith Protest in Auckland Falsely Shared as Maori Protest Against Hindus

A video is rapidly going viral on social media showing a black clad protestors referred to as a Māori organisation desecrating a Hindu religion flag with the symbol “Om.” This video is being circulated with the claim that the Maori group in New Zealand is protesting against the rising Hindu population.

Sharing the video, the handle Mishkat Fatima wrote, “Members of the indigenous Māori tribal community in New Zealand are protesting against the growing influence of the Hindu population and tearing down flags of Hindutva. Everyone is fed up with the mischief of this so-called cultured community.” (archived link)

न्यूज़ीलैंड में हिंदू आबादी के बढ़ते प्रभाव के खिलाफ देशी माओरी जनजातीय समुदाय के सदस्य विरोध प्रदर्शन कर रहे हैं और हिंदुत्व के झंडे फाड़ रहे हैं। इस तथाकथित संस्कारी समुदाय की शरारतों से हर कोई तंग है। pic.twitter.com/nEGe4Cf3Bj

— Mishkat Fatima 🆇™ (@realMishkat) June 23, 2025

Another handle Ritest Deshmukh parody claimed, “Members of the indigenous Māori tribal community in New Zealand are protesting against the growing influence of the Hindu population and tearing down flags of Hindutva.” (archived link)

न्यूज़ीलैंड में हिंदू आबादी के बढ़ते प्रभाव के खिलाफ देशी माओरी जनजातीय समुदाय के सदस्य विरोध प्रदर्शन कर रहे हैं और हिंदुत्व के झंडे फाड़ रहे है…

pic.twitter.com/7gdthvK8Fs

— रितेश देशमुख ( 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚢 ) (@Deshmukh_0) June 24, 2025

The video was also shared by many other handles like Mr. Haque (archived link), Shaveta Meena (archived link), Anwar Muloor (archived link), Deepak Yadav (archived link), Bablu Bijlani (archived link), and A.R Khan (archived link).

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Fact Check

In our fact check research, we searched some relevant keywords on Google like “protest against Hindu religion in New Zealand” and found a report by Zee News, dated June 24, 2025. We spotted the keyframe of the viral video in the report.

According to this report, the protest took place on June 21 in Auckland. This mass protest was led by the Destiny Church group, a Pentecostal Christian organisation founded in 1998 by Brian and Hannah Tamaki. The protest, called “Faith, Flag, and Family,” was held against mass immigration and non-Christian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Palestinians, and also against the LGBTQ+ community.

A large number of followers, while advocating for Christian supremacy, participated in this protest. They called for an end to multi-faith practices and immigration in the country and demanded that Christianity be declared the official religion. Addressing the protest, Tamaki said that mass immigration has ruined Christian countries around the world.

The protestors carried the banner “NZ’s official religion: Christianity” and desecrated the flags of other religions and performed Haka. They specifically targeted Buddhism and Sikhs, saying that Sikhs are taking over the country, their businesses and companies, and they no longer employ Kiwis, they employ their own people. About Buddhism, Tamaki emphasized that it might appear nice but he considers it harmful or threatening.

In the next step, on X we found the handle of Brian Tamaki, the founder of Destiny Church, where we found the video from this protest. Brian has shared a 2 minute and 29 second video in which protestors can be seen performing a haka, and one protestor comes forward, takes an Islamic flag, and tears it apart with his feet. The text on the video reads, “We break the power of Islam in the name of Jesus.” In the video, Tamaki can also be heard saying the same thing. (archived link)

WHILE THE WORLD FIGHTS WITH BOMBS 💣
WE FOUGHT THE SPIRIT BEHIND IT

Islam Is The Destabilising Force In Our World.

Saturday was more than a march — it was a powerful, prophetic act in the spirit realm.

Right there on Queen Street, Indigenous Māori and thousands of proud Kiwis… pic.twitter.com/nTaPWATMbW

— Brian Tamaki (@BrianTamakiNZ) June 23, 2025

In his X post, Tamaki also wrote a long caption criticizing Islam. In it, he wrote, “While the world fights with bombs, we fought the spirit behind it. Islam is the destabilizing force in our world.” Further, he wrote that this is not just politics, it’s a religious war: Islam vs Christianity, Islam vs Judaism, light vs darkness, and truth vs terror.

He then mentioned the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, stating, “Right now Israel and Iran are in the middle of an all-out war. The United States is involved too. But make no mistake, the real threat isn’t just Iran’s missiles, it’s the Islamic state cleric, the spiritual stronghold driving the chaos. Every terror act is first a religious act.” He also mentioned an incident where he said an Islamic suicide bomber blew himself up inside a church in Damascus during Sunday mass, and wrote, “That’s what Islam does.”

He further added, “These demons are not confined to the Middle East. They are already embedded in Western nations — including ours — sleeper cells waiting for the call to strike. Islam is the fastest-growing religion on the planet. It chants: “Death to Israel. Death to America. Death to the West. It has already taken control of these Islamic-ruled nations: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, and the list is growing. Many of these are ruled under Sharia Law. Every one of them oppresses women, persecutes Christians, rapes, silences freedom, and glorifies death.”

We also found another video in which the flags of many other religions and ideologies were torn down. Sharing this video, Tamaki wrote, “Today, in a powerful public act, we tore down the symbols of foreign ideologies and false religions that are invading and reshaping New Zealand.”

The flags included those of Islam, Palestine, Khalistan, Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, the United Nations, WHO, WEF, atheism (no religion), the rainbow (LGBTQ+), and transgender identity. (archived link)

In conclusion, this protest video is from June 21, led by the Destiny Church group under Brian Tamaki in Auckland. The protest targeted mass immigration and non-Christian faiths, including Islam, and involved the desecration of religious flags. The claim that the protest targeted the Hindu religion is false.

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