Police -including some in riot gear - have shoved protesters to the ground as they cleared a section of Lambton Quay at the Wellington protest this afternoon.
An estimated 100 police gathered at the bottom of the street - next to the concrete block barricades - and blocked traffic there.
Police officers told a man trying to cross the street that the "road was closed for an operation".
Some officers shoved people to the ground and into the concrete blocks, Herald reporters on the scene say.
Protesters are chanting "Police stand down".
Riot police lined up in front of the concrete bollards and a forklift arrived on the scene. It placed a new bollard down with existing ones.
The police action clearly caught protesters by surprise and when police arrived, only a handful were at the barrier.
Police pushed them outside the protest area, and grabbed a flag off a man trying to hit them with it.
Officers without riot shields came out of the Parliament precinct very strongly, running towards anyone who was near the concrete bollards, shouting at them to move aside as riot police formed their line.
Some protesters have made their own shields out of plywood, with handles made of rope and hosing.
Protesters are lying them on the ground, presumably to hide them from police. About five are in the area.
Earlier, the protest at Parliament has been added to the Ministry of Health's Covid-19 locations of interest website.
It is listed as a close contact event on Saturday 20 February from 11.55am to 11pm and Sunday 21 February from 11am to 11.59pm.
People are advised to self-isolate for seven days and test on day five after being exposed at the location of interest.
They should also monitor symptoms for 10 days and test again if they feel unwell.
People are being urged to log their visit to the protest online so they can be contact tracers can reach them.
It comes on day 17 of the protests at Parliament, after a series of scuffles broke out between police and protesters overnight.
Police continue to be concerned at the level of aggressive behaviour from protestors in Wellington, who last night moved bollards from protest's perimeter.
At 9pm they moved barriers from the intersection on Lambton Quay and Bowen Street letting about 20 vehicles into the protest area, said police, who were able to reposition the bollards without incident.
Protesters on Hill Street also armed themselves with makeshift shields made of plywood and rope.
At 4pm yesterday a group of 10-15 protesters also entered Pipitea Marae and demanded Police and Māori wardens vacate immediately, where they were verbally trespassed by police.
While people at the protest has fluctuated between 150-300 at different times of the day, police have seen a significant decrease in number of vehicles and people. About 300 vehicles remained inside the cordoned area overnight, down significantly from last weekend.Although the offer of free parking ended yesterday, there are around 35 vehicles still at Sky Stadium.
