Unruly tourist

The noise at Albert Park, central Auckland, was extraordinary – a cacophony of horns, drums, biscuit tins, loudhailers and voices.

- RUSSELL BROWN

Whether it was festive or intimidating depended on which side of the barrier you stood.

Outside were the people making the noise, there to drown out the British antitransgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker. Inside, outnumbered 20 to one, were the people Keen-Minshull had invited to a public place to hear her ideas, such as they are.

Women were the majority in both crowds, but the inside group was notably older. It included anti vaxxers, fringe political figures and men who could reasonably be characterised as neo-Nazis, along with people who didn’t seem to be any of those.

I worried for them when Keen-Minshull arrived and a few counter-protesters pushed aside the barriers so the crowds mingled. There were a handful of assaults both ways that warrant investigation.

Someone waved a placard reading ‘TRANS = WEF + NWO PUPPETS”, which needs unpacking. The belief that “trans ideology” and transgender people themselves are the tools of a malignant global conspiracy has gained currency in the conspiracist community, floated by the same disinformation networks as anti-vaccine sentiment.