Tens of thousands of people have marched on the New Zealand parliament in Wellington to protest against a bill that critics say strikes at the core of the country’s founding principles and dilutes the rights of Māori people.

By Lucy Craymer and Lewis Jackson WELLINGTON (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of New Zealanders rallied in front of parliament on Tuesday in one of the country's largest ever protests to oppose a bill, which opponents say seeks to dilute the rights of Maori and threatens to set race relations back decades.

The demonstrators oppose a law that would reshape the country's founding treaty between Indigenous Māori and the British Crown.