Protesters hold day of action against Kiwi involvement in TPP trade deal

Hundreds of New Zealanders gathered outside Parliament Wednesday in a day of protest against the controversial 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations.

Doctors and information technology professionals were among the many to voice concerns over the secrecy surrounding the TPP talks as well as over some of the leaked details of the pact that they claim will undermine New Zealand's sovereignty, including tighter copyright controls and proposals to enable corporations to sue governments over regulations that affect their profits.

Radio New Zealand reported that about 300 people descended on Parliament.

Online activist group ActionStation, one of the groups represented at the protest, said about 100,000 people had taken some form of action online and offline to stop the government signing the deal.

More than 300 small- and medium-sized business owners had signed an open letter to the government opposing the TPP, ActionStation campaign director Laura O'Connell-Rapira said in a statement.

"You can't call these people 'anti-trade.' They're concerned this deal massively favours foreign transnational corporations and is a bad deal for small Kiwi businesses," she said.

The opposition New Zealand First party said the government had sold the TPP to the public as a trade deal, but only 20 percent of the document addressed trade.

The government was hiding the details behind "a cloak of secrecy," said trade spokesperson Fletcher Tabuteau.

"No one fully knows what the government is signing this country up too," Tabuteau said in a statement.

Four days of talks in Hawaii to finalize the deal stalled earlier this month after countries failed to reach agreement, but Prime Minister John Key said this week he expected it to be signed by the end of this year. Endi