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

Thousands of people are gathering to take the final steps in a march on New Zealand’s parliament to demonstrate against a controversial bill seeking to overhaul the country's founding document between British colonisers and Māori people.

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.