A group of angry protesters gathered on Garden Place Plaza last Friday to protest against the Government’s plan to cut adult night class funding from $20 million to $3 million. Over 200 mostly mature protesters held signs which read “Tolley’s Hobbies = Bollocks” and “My taxes pay for night classes + MPs’ Perks” while MPs and other invited guests spoke.

Beginning at 12pm, the one-hour long protest seemed more like a convention of die-hard Labour supporters reliving the glory days rather than an actual productive protest. However, stories of how night classes have saved people’s lives and lead to further employment bought cheers and chants from the crowd.

Night class tutors, Hamilton City Councillors, and MPs from several parties took up the mic with all strongly opposing the reduction in funding.

After the protest, a petition, which will be sent to the Government, was handed out for all to sign.

“I thought it went really fantastic. It was good to see a nice mix of people. We had young people, old people, and people from all different ethnicities. I think this really reflects what night classes are all about. It’s about our communities and the diversity that makes up our community,” said protest organiser Lili-Rose Bates.

David Bennett was the only National MP to show his face at the protest and copped a lot of abuse from protesters. However, Bennett was still in good spirits.

“It is very good that the people have come out to have their voices heard and I’ll take that information back to the minister [Minister of Education, Anne Tolley].”

“We are in difficult economic times and there has to be some reprioritisation. Nobody wants to see anything like this happen, but it’s just the reality with what we have to deal with,” said Bennett.