New Zealand will lift Covid-19 vaccine mandates and social distancing measures after the Omicron peak has passed, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said, as protesters occupying the parliament grounds again clashed with police.

Ardern refused to set a hard date, but said there would be a narrowing of vaccine requirements after Omicron reaches a peak, which is expected in mid to late March, according to Reuters.

“We all want to go back to the way life was. And we will, I suspect sooner than you think,” Ardern said at a weekly news conference.

“But when that happens, it will be because easing restrictions won't compromise the lives of thousands of people not because you demanded it,” she said, addressing protestors.