Nearly ten thousand people took to the streets in New Zealand to protest the introduction of the controversial Treaty Principles Bill in Parliament. Critics said the bill, if passed, could reverse the rights and other protection mechanisms for the Indigenous Māori people.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of New Zealand’s Māori party rose and began a Haka, tearing a copy of the proposed law in half.

A vote in New Zealand’s parliament was suspended and two lawmakers ejected Thursday amid debate over a controversial proposed law redefining the country’s founding agreement between Indigenous Māori and the British Crown.