Watch: Police step in as Wellington crowd turns on anti-immigration protesters

Watch: Police step in as Wellington crowd turns on anti-immigration protesters
Photo credit: Youtube/Tim Levchenko-Scott.

Police were forced to step in to an anti-immigration rally in Wellington as tensions rose between protesters and the public.

A video posted to Youtube on Saturday shows a group protesting the UN migration pact in central Wellington with a speaker and microphone.

New Zealand's Labour-led Government announced its support of the non-legally binding UN Migration Pact in December last year, which increases the rights of migrants worldwide.

The protest leader, a woman, was talking to a crowd of passers-by when tensions escalated.

A man from the crowd confronted her holding a sign saying, "almost everything they just said is wrong. NZ loves migrants. Love not fear".

When he approaches the protest group with the sign, one can be heard asking him to leave, saying he's intimidating the speaker, a woman.

"I think you've made your point, now you're intimidating someone," a man tells him.

A group of bystanders then moves into the space that the protesters were in, refusing to move, before a squabble sees police step in.

A woman from the crowd grabs the hat off one of the protesters, an older man, and another pushes him. Amid yelling from both sides of the debate, police move between the groups.

The police presence is enough to deter the commotion, and the protest speaker can be heard saying that she will wrap up the protest with a rendition of the national anthem.

The crowd boos through the song, and the woman leading the protest at one point forgets the words to the Maori verse.

There have been protests around the world against the pact, which has the support of 152 countries so far.

Newshub.