More than 10,000 New Zealanders on Friday joined a 660-mile protest march heading toward Parliament in Wellington, amid growing opposition to proposed legislation that would strip Maori people of special rights accorded to them under an 1840 treaty.

New Zealand’s parliament was briefly suspended on Thursday after Maori members staged a haka to disrupt the vote on a contentious bill that would reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori.

Māori lawmakers performed a traditional haka dance to protest a New Zealand bill that could redefine the country's relationship with Indigenous people.