Although the bill is unlikely to pass, opponents say bid to reverse progress for Maori threatens to divide society.

Clarke, the youngest sitting Member of Parliament in New Zealand led the protest to oppose a law that would reshape the county's founding treaty between Indigenous Maori and the British Crown

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