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"The death of Kiingi Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness for followers of Te Kiingitanga, Maaoridom and the entire nation," Rahui Papa, spokesman for the Kiingitanga or ����ǰ��� king movement said at the time.

Spokesman Rahui Papa said the king had been in hospital recovering from heart surgery, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation.

“Our sneaky strategy is to say it time and time and time again in every forum so that it catches your conscious and subconscious: that is to protect the Treaty of Waitangi,” said Rahui Papa, a Maori leader.

A seven-day rahui has been placed on the beach, a traditional Maori prohibition restricting access to an area.

White Island’s owners, three brothers who inherited the volcano after it was bought in 1936 by an Auckland stockbroker named George Raymond Buttle, issued a statement asking that the spiritual ban, or rahui, be respected.