Actor
Lucy Lawless helped start a peace march which will
circle the world before ending in the Andes in January.
The former Warrior Princess marched under a
Chinese-style dragon made from the sails of the
Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior — sunk by French agents
in Auckland in 1985 — in the Auckland Peace Heritage
Walk around central Auckland yesterday.
The walk was also a rehearsal for about 20
international visitors who start their World March of
Peace and Non-Violence in Wellington this week.
They will visit more than 90 countries spreading
their message of peace and non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons.
One of them, 66-year-old Spanish interpreter Liliana
Piastra said it was important to start in New Zealand
because of the country’s history.
Lawless said it was great to see the diversity of
marchers, who included members of women’s rights,
nuclear free, and animal rights groups as well as Sri
Lankan rights protesters.
‘‘All I see is regular people who are about the issue
of world peace in its many forms — and good on them.’’
Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey, MPs Nikki
Kaye, Keith Locke and Hone Harawira also joined the
march.
