Motorbikes lined the front of Parliament today, as police, the Defence Force and White Ribbon joined in the effort of calling out violence against women.
Today is White Ribbon Day, that aims to promote healthy family relationships and pushes men to challenge abusive behaviour.
Today is International White Ribbon Day.
Chief Ombudsman Judge Peter Boshier, Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha and head of the NZDF Kevin Short stood alongside the White Ribbon riders to encourage men to express emotions to try and curb New Zealand's high rate of domestic violence.
"It is a sad indictment that we have to turn up to family harm incidents every four minutes," Mr Haumaha said.
"It is a sad indictment that every one in three women across the country will experience some form of family harm in the course of their lives. It is a sad indictment that 14 women are killed each year as a result of partner abuse."
"It's been a sad week for us this week, when we think of some of the high level incidents that have taken place.
"We've got to stop the violence, and we've got to stop it now," Mr Haumaha said.
White Ribbon ambassador Takurua Tawera told the crowd men needed to know: "It's OK to cry, it's OK to feel hurt, it's OK to feel devastated".
"Traditionally men are told to harden up, not to speak out, to toughen up and not cry and to be the man - to discriminate, to have those little jokes around dismissing, putting down women. We want to challenge that unspoken rule."
"We believe to encourage our communities to engage with emotions and find solutions through our emotions so we have better men."
Student Hannah Dorey read out her poem 'Respectfully' - that won the White Ribbon Spoken Word competition this year in Wellington.
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