A bill aimed at ending long-standing rights from the indigenous population has fuelled this year’s heated events.

The bill’s architect, David Seymour, met with protests at Waitangi marae — a Māori meeting house — during speeches by political leaders on Wednesday, as he made a fresh pitch for the law. The measures are widely derided and prompted tens of thousands of people to march on Parliament in Wellington last November.

Thousands gathered across New Zealand on Thursday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the Indigenous Maori population.