Booming Indigenous Maori "haka" chants rang out across New Zealand's capital on Tuesday, as thousands rallied against a conservative proposal accused of stoking racial divisions.

New Zealand’s Parliament was temporarily suspended on Thursday as Māori lawmakers performed a haka, a traditional group dance, demonstrating their community’s anger and fear over a bill that aims to reinterpret the country’s founding treaty with its Indigenous people.

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders gathered outside the parliament in one of the country’s largest demonstrations to oppose the Treaty Principles Bill, which critics say undermines Maori rights and threatens race relations.

New Zealand’s parliament descended into chaos as Maori members staged a haka in protest against a bill that would “reinterpret” the country’s founding treaty.

Booming Indigenous Maori "haka" chants rang out across New Zealand's capital on Tuesday, as tens of thousands rallied against a conservative push to redefine the nation's founding treaty. Protests have been swelling throughout New Zealand after a minor party in the conservative coalition government drafted a bill to redefine the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

Protesters oppose a bill drafted by a minor coalition party that aims to redefine a founding treaty of the country dating back to 1840.