Street signs defaced in political action

Dunedin street signs have been defaced as part of a nationwide effort to take action against colonisation.

Among the signs defaced are Stafford St, Princes St, George St and Dundas St.

A social media post by aotearoaliberationleague highlighted the action taken across the country.

The post showed an email that was sent to 31 councils throughout the country by "Iarere Te Nuniko", who took responsibility for the action.

The email said "this exhibition highlights the undemocratic way colonial narratives are imposed and upheld and dispersed through questionable characters of history".

Iarere Te Nuniko is an alleged reference to a unicorn.

The person in the email added "the foolish New Zealand Government’s focus on continuing an economy which privatises the gains and socialises the costs of land and resources which were stolen".

Action appeared to target "well-known" colonisers such as James Cook, Edward Wakefield and George Grey.

A Dunedin City Council spokesman said multiple signs had been defaced in a similar manner.

"We’re not aware of an email about the movement and we haven’t contacted police yet, but our staff and contractors will be checking other signs for further issues.

"It’s important to note cleaning or replacing street name signs is ratepayer-funded and takes valuable resources and funding away from other critical work on our roading network," they said.

They encouraged anyone who considered such an action not to do it and anyone who witnessed defacement to contact police.