All the weird things Kiwis have thrown at people during protests
Sunday, 26 March 2023
Tomato juice can officially be added to the list of deliberately weird things thrown by Kiwis during protests.
‘Tomato’, ‘Watties’, and ‘Keri’ were trending on New Zealand Twitter after a red liquid was dumped atop of controversial self-titled women’s activist Kellie-Jay Keen’s head as she attempted to speak at Auckland’s Albert Park on Saturday.
After much debate on Twitter, Eli Rubashkyn who doused Posie Parker with the liquid, confirmed it was in fact a bottle of Keri tomato juice.
Rubashkyn, who was born intersex and is gender-nonconforming, chose to dump tomato juice on Parker as a metaphor for the harm caused by her ideologies of the transgender community.
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Rubashkyn wanted the tomato juice to make Parker miserable, rather than cause her physical harm.
Keen was escorted out of the park by her security team and police after about 20 minutes, when it became clear her voice would not be heard over the sound of thousands of trans rights supporters chanting, banging pots and pans, blowing whistles and playing musical instruments.
It is not the first time an object flung at a protest has made headlines. We have a look at the weird things that have been hurled at people.
Horse poo
Former politician John Banks had horse poo thrown at him outside the Auckland High Court in May 2014.
Banks was arriving at court for a private prosecution when serial poo slinger Castislav 'Sam' Bracanov jumped out from behind a car and threw the manure at him.
The poohad been collected from a paddock in Māngere Bridge and watered down, Bracanov later told the court.
Bracanov said the incident was revenge over a $10,000 fine he received 22 years prior for throwing faeces at a royal visitor’s car. Banks was the police minister at the time.
He was eventually convicted of assault and fined $400 for throwing manure at Banks.
Afterwards, Bracanov promised his poo-slinging days were over, but he would go on to throw poo at a judge at the Auckland District Court in 2016.
Bricks and pavers
The ill-famed 23-day occupation of Parliament by anti-vax protesters came to a violent end on 2 March 2022.
A riot broke out as hundreds of police officers closed in on the grounds of Parliament, removing protesters and destroying their camp.
In response, protesters dug out brick pavers and flung them at police officers, leaving large holes the foothpath.
Multiple people were charged with using the pavers as offensive weapons in attempt to assault police.
Wet t-shirt
Queen Elizabeth II was said to be startled when a wet t-shirt was thrown her way during her visit to Aotearoa in 1990, to mark 150 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi)
The t-shirt missed the Queen, instead landing on her car.
Henearoahuea Tepou, aged 27 at the time, threw the black t-shirt in protest of the way New Zealand treated indigenous Māori, according to the Associated Press.
Tepou said her tīpuna (ancestors) had fought for justice under the treaty without success.
She believed throwing a wet t-shirt at the Queen would turn the country’s attention towards Māori issues.
A judge said Tepou’s actions brought shame on New Zealand and its people, and ordered her to serve five months’ periodic detention.
Flour bombs
New Zealand was divided in 1981, when the Springboks rugby team toured the country, resulting in widespread protests by people opposed to South Africa’s racist apartheid regime.
Ahead of a game at Eden Park, protesters Grant Cole and Marx Jones charted a plane, armed with three banana boxes filled with hand-sized flour bombs, and flew south towards Eden Park.
On the way, they radioed ground control to say: “This is radio anti-apartheid. Please inform the police and the rugby union they've got just 10 minutes to stop the third test.'
Their demand was not met, so the pair unleashed the flour bombs – made with paper to not cause serious injury – over the packed stadium.
All Black Gary Knight was felled by one flour bomb, but soon got up again. The game went on despite the floury field, and the All Blacks won 25-22.
The stunt earned Cole six months' periodic detention, while Jones was jailed for six months.
Sex toy
Former National MP and minister for economic development Steven Joyce was hit across the face by a rubber sex toy on Waitangi Day in 2016.
The incident, dubbed “dildogate”, made international headlines and saw Joyce mocked by British-American comedian John Oliver during a four-minute segment on Last Week Tonight.
The woman who threw the sex toy, Josie Butler, was protesting against New Zealand’s signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, which was widely criticised by Māori for breaching the Treaty of Waitangi.
“That’s for raping our sovereignty,” Butler yelled as she was arrested.
Police would later release her without charge.