New Zealand: Three Maori MPs suspended over 'intimidating' haka

"We will never be silenced," says Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who started the protest dance.

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Opposition MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who started the traditional dance, was suspended for seven days, while her party's co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer were banned for 21 days.

The MPs did the haka when asked if their Te Pāti Māori or Māori Party, supported a bill that sought to redefine the country's founding treaty with Māori people.

The Treaty Principles Bill has since been voted down but it drew nationwide outrage - and more than 40,000 people protested outside parliament during the bill's first reading in November last year.

We have been "punished for being Māori", Ngarewa-Packer told the BBC. "We take on the stance of being unapologetically Māori and prioritising what our people need or expect from us."