New Zealand’s parliament was briefly suspended on Thursday after Maori members staged a haka to disrupt the vote on a contentious bill that would reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori.

New Zealand's parliament was suspended and two lawmakers were ejected during a vote on a controversial proposed law redefining the country’s founding agreement between Indigenous Māori and the British Crown.

As parliamentarians gathered for a preliminary vote on the bill on Thursday, Te Pāti Māori MPs physically tore a copy of the bill, stood and began a haka.