Can lessons be learned from Moutoa Gardens protest in 1995?

In 1995 local iwi occupied Moutoa Gardens, also called Pakaitore, in central Whanganui. Their protest lasted for 79 days and ended peacefully. Alec Waugh was the Whanganui district police commander at the time and he relives the tensions of those months balancing the concerns of protesters, local residents and politicians. Are there lessons to be learned for the handling of today's protest near Parliament?