No charges, arrests after protest against anti-trans speaker Posie Parker

Monday, 27 March 2023

Anti-trans activist Posie Parker fled from counter protesters in Auckland on March 25, 2023.

No arrests have yet been made or charges laid after a large protest against an anti-trans activist’s event in Auckland’s Albert Park.

Thousands gathered at the park rotunda on Saturday to protest Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s speaking event.

The protest came after Keen-Minshull, who goes by Posie Parker, was supported by neo-Nazi groups at her Melbourne speaking event.

During her brief appearance in Albert Park, Keen-Minshull was doused with tomato juice by a protester who walked into the rotunda where the activist planned to speak.

* Hate speech or free speech? Clashes in Auckland reignite debate

* Anti-trans activist Posie Parker leaves country after chaotic Auckland rally

She was escorted out of the park and was on a flight out of Auckland later on Saturday, having cancelled her plans to speak in Wellington the next day.

Despite her absence, large crowds gathered in Wellington and Christchurch in support of transgender people, who Keen-Minshull targets in her speeches and writing.

Anti-trans agitator Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, was rushed from Albert Park under police and security escort after thousands of counter protestors surrounded and drowned out her attempt at speaking.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was also knocked down by a motorcyclist as she walked to the Auckland protest on Saturday

“Inquiries in to any instances of offending are ongoing at this time. No arrests have been made or charges laid,” police said on Monday morning.

Protester Eli Rubashkyn, who was born intersex and is gender-nonconforming, said she had dropped the litre of juice on the controversial speaker.

Action from a Wellington rally backing trans rights in Civic Square.

Rubashkyn said she used tomato juice as a metaphor for the harm caused by Parker’s views on the transgender community.

“Trans people are under attack,” she said.

“Hate speech becomes violence against minorities.”

Rubashkyn, originally from Colombia, said Aotearoa had become a “haven” for her, and she couldn’t allow Keen-Minshull to take that away.

“I am so proud I dropped the juice, and I would do it again, and again – if I have to go to prison for one year, I am more than happy.”

Ahead of Keen-Minshull’s visit to New Zealand, rainbow community organisers filed a judicial review to have her entry barred, but it failed.

Speaking to Radio NZ on Monday, Auckland Pride’s former executive director Max Tweedie said organisers wanted the rally to be peaceful.

Tweedie himself did not organise the protest.

“Neo-Nazis were present in support of Parker, and they have been identified,” he said.

Tweedie said tensions at the rally were high, but “we tried to prevent this from happening at all.

“We didn’t think that she should have been allowed in the country she because of the threat to public order.”

Tweedie said the protest overall was a joyous celebration.

“Sure, there were a couple of times were absolutely tensions were running high. But this is what happens when you put someone who has come to this country with the intention of spreading hatred and division.

“It’s worth interrogating why in two of her rallies in Australia and New Zealand, neo-Nazis have shown in support of her ideologies. When you look back at Nazi ideology of the 1930s, those things are aligned in terms of aligning rainbow communities from public life.”