New Zealand authorities blasted 'Baby Shark' and James Blunt to deter protests against vaccine mandates. The demonstrators just sang along.

Police officers form a line in front of protesters at Parliament on February 10, 2022 in Wellington, New Zealand
Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand police blasted "Baby Shark" and James Blunt to deter anti-vaccine mandate protesters.
Instead, the protesters just sang along and danced.
Demonstrators have been protesting outside the nation's parliament since last week.

New Zealand authorities blasted "Baby Shark," James Blunt, and other songs to try and force out anti-vaccine mandate protesters from the parliament grounds over the weekend, according to multiple reports.

But demonstrators seemed to not mind, singing along to the songs even as a cyclone hit the area.

A video from the BBC on Monday shows protesters singing along to James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" as police blast the hit song on speakers.

Protesters danced along to the catchy children's song "Baby Shark" after police tried to annoy the protesters, the BBC reported.

Police also blasted "Macarena," the popular dance song by Los Del Rio, and hits by Barry Manilow, Insider's Kelsey Vlamis reported on Sunday.

Hundreds of anti-mandate supporters have occupied the grounds outside the nation's parliament in Wellington since last week. Some protesters have been arrested after clashing with police.

"Police continue to appeal to protest groups to allow Wellingtonians freedom of movement around the area, while they continue their demonstrations at Parliament grounds," New Zealand Police Superintendent Corrie Parnell said in a statement on Monday.

She added: "The disruption to residents, schools, and places of work is creating real stress and concern and people are feeling unsafe."

Blasting music isn't the other method of deterrence authorities have used.

On Friday, police activated the sprinklers outside of the parliament building to drive away the protests, but demonstrators responded by digging trenches to redirect water away from tents.

The demonstrators have drawn inspiration from Canada's "Freedom Convoy" trucker protests which have snarled major bridges and city streets in Ottawa with gridlock.

In the US, dozens of groups have been using Telegram to discuss organizing trucker convoys to protest vaccine mandates in Washington DC and other cities around the US, Insider previously reported.

And in Europe, a handful of cities threatened "Freedom Convoy"-inspired protesters with jail time and fines.

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