New Zealand's parliament on Thursday began a heated debate on a contentious bill aimed at reinterpreting the country's founding agreement as hundreds of protesters continued their march toward the country's capital.

A hīkoi (protest march) spanning the entirety of New Zealand's north island rallying against the government's constitutionally consequential 'Treaty Principles Bill' began Monday from Cape Reinga,

Hundreds of people on Monday set out on a nine-day march to New Zealand's capital of Wellington in protest over legislation that would reinterpret a treaty at the heart of race relations in the Pacific country.