The post-protest clean up at Parliament will come with a hefty price tag in more ways than one.
What appeared to start as an anti-mandate, anti-vaccination demonstration ended after 23 days with protesters being pepper sprayed and police pelted with paving stones, paint bombs and tent poles thrown as javelins.
Visitors to the occupation site included Winston Peters and Russell Coutts.
Two weeks ago Red Stag Timber chief executive Marty Verry declared he had personally donated funds to the protest.
Now he has told Checkpoint he was appalled at seeing the violence from protesters on Wednesday.
"It just got out of hand."
He said he supported the opposition to vaccine mandates, and had given $250 - what he called a "small personal donation".
"But I haven't been at all impressed with the way it's evolved over time. I think a dangerous fringe got in there and started to take it over and I think it lost the support of the public."
Verry said with hindsight he would not have given the protest money.
He claimed, based on what he heard from a friend at the protest, that initially there were "police officers, Defence Force, nurses and teachers in that group, trying to get their jobs back".
However, from the beginning of the protest there were visible placards referring to 'Nuremburg Trials', other conspiracy theories and violent imagery.
Verry believes the protest had become more violent over time as the tone shifted away from being only against mandates.
He claimed the protest was supported by the High Court in its judgement of a case with police and NZDF members.
However, the High Court's finding did not at all support the protest.
Justice Francis Cooke said: "I should make it clear what this case is not about. The order being set aside in the present case was not implemented for the purposes of limiting the spread of Covid-19. Health advice was that such a further mandate was not needed for this purpose.
"Neither should the court's conclusion be understood to question the effectiveness and importance of vaccination. The evidence shows that vaccination significantly improves the prospects of avoiding serious illness and death, even with the Omicron variant."
The area outside Parliament, including the recently built playground, was largely destroyed by protesters on Wednesday. Verry said he could send some timber to help rebuild.
He also said from what he saw on the TV, a lot of protesters were likely on government benefits. He did not offer any evidence to back up that claim.
