Protest leaders denounced the raid as a dress rehearsal for their forced eviction and an attempt to provoke, intimidate, and discredit the land occupants. Throughout the 79-day occupation, the land protesters faced almost nightly harassment and racist abuse by the police. The decision to end the Māori occupation of Moutoa Gardens was debated by participants at a three-hour meeting 17 May 1995. At 3:45 the next morning the occupants gathered and began dismantling tents and buildings and the surrounding fence. Bonfires burned across the site. At 4:50 a.m., the same time they had entered the gardens 79 days earlier, the protesters began their march to a meeting place several miles away.