An Anzac Dawn Service at the Wellington Cenotaph turned ugly on Tuesday morning as a father and son clashed with protestors.

Newshub was interviewing Ellie Clayton and Laura Drew from Peace Action Wellington, who were part of the protest group, when they were interrupted by David Broome and his 12-year-old son, James Broome-Isa.

They approached the protesters and James began yelling at them, saying they should not be there.

"Do it tomorrow, do it the day before, do it any day - but today it is wrong, wrong, wrong," the boy said.

Mr Broome is the chief of staff for New Zealand First.

Ms Clayton and Ms Drew were part of a group of peaceful protestors at the Dawn Service who were holding a banner which read: 'Lest We Remember: No NZ support for war.'

They also laid a wreath at the cenotaph and a plaque for the civilians allegedly killed in Afghanistan during a New Zealand SAS-led operation in 2010.

"We really think it's important to remember everybody that was killed," Ms Clayton said.

"These civilians had done nothing wrong, they were just living their lives in villages in Afghanistan. It's not acceptable that they were killed, especially if our armed forces are responsible for that."

Ms Drew said it's important people remember "the bad along with the good".

"We talk about honour on Anzac Day but we need to remember that it's overwhelmingly civilians who are killed," she said.

"The people who were killed in those villages they were just living their lives, like the three-year-old that died. I don't have words for that.

"We think we should really find out what happened to Fatima and what happened to those people who were killed in those villages and we should take responsibility for that."

During the argument, James said the activists weren't there in the true spirit of Anzac Day.

"You're here to make a political point. You are not here to say, 'lest we forget', you're here to say, 'It's free publicity, let's go and make the most of it'," he told the duo.

"Do you think about all the people who died in wars?" Ms Drew asked him in response.

"Yes I do, why do you think I am goddamned here," he said.

Ms Drew asked if he remembered the civilians in Afghanistan and he said: "This is Anzac, not civilians."

Newshub.