Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe was pulled to the ground by a police officer after attempting to interrupt a women’s rights rally on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra.
In several videos posted online, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (also known as Posie Parker), the British women’s rights advocate behind the “Let Women Speak” rallies in Melbourne and Tasmania, was speaking in front of a crowd under a marquee in the rain.
A few seconds later, Thorpe, a former member of the left-wing Australian Greens before falling out over the Voice proposal, was seen crossing the road to enter the protest, draped in an Aboriginal flag.
The senator shouted “you are not welcome” several times as she tried to intervene in the protest, before being blocked by two men.
Following the incident, Thorpe claimed she was “pulverised” by police for “simply telling that person that they are not allowed to be here.”
Thorpe told reporters that people should be “ashamed” for letting Keen-Minshull into the country, referring to Keen-Minshull as “that thing.”
“They are racist, they are homophobic, they are destroying people’s lives,” Thorpe claimed.
“I’ve been assaulted by the police today as a sovereign Gunnai Gunditjmara DjabWurrung woman and the police need to answer for the assault, but also this government needs to answer why these people are allowed into this country.”
The incident comes just three weeks after Thorpe staged a protest at the Sydney Mardi Gras parade by lying in front of a float before being removed by the police.
In a statement, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said they would review the latest matter.
“The interactions between the AFP and protesters will be reviewed, and an incident has been referred to the AFP’s Professional Standards Command,” it said.
“Given a matter is now under investigation, no further comments will be made.”
The protest in Canberra saw a small group of pro-women’s rights demonstrators gathering in the rain, holding banners such as “libraries are for books, not perversion,” while counter-protesters stood in a short distance, holding signs such as “defend trans joy.”
Women’s Rights Rallies Disrupted by Counter Protests
Several high-profile speakers withdrew from the Let Women Speak event citing security fears.A similar demonstration in Melbourne was met by hundreds of screaming counter-protestors, as well as a group of male protesters performing Nazi salutes.
Meanwhile, another protest in Hobart, Tasmania, was also gate-crashed by counter protestors.
Liberal Tasmanian Senator Claire Chandler said she initially thought a Let Women Speak event was a “perfect opportunity” to draw attention to the “distressing and heartbreaking” experiences of women around having single-sex spaces.
However, Chandler said she did not feel speaking at the event meant she would be heard.
“I haven’t seen a single word of a speech given at the last two events reported by Australian media, with the entire focus consumed by those there to disrupt and scream over the top of women trying to speak about their rights or, in the case of the Melbourne event, to hijack the event and the media attention for their own abhorrent purposes,” Chandler wrote on Facebook on March 21.
Liberal MP Risks Being Expelled From Party
Meanwhile, Moira Deeming, a Liberal MP of the Western Metropolitan Region in Victoria, faces expulsion from her party after she attended the Melbourne event on March 18.She defended the organising group behind the protest, “Standing For Women UK” (SFW), saying they stood for biological rights and against the “irreversible and harmful” transitioning practices for those hoping to swap genders.
She said that the rallies had faced constant threats of violence from “extreme left activists including the notorious Antifa,” whom Victorian Police have been accused of failing to stop interfering in the protest.
“This organisation (SFW) and its goals are mainstream and global, supported by high profile members and leaders of every mainstream political party in the world,” Deeming wrote on Twitter.
“The Melbourne ‘Let Women Speak’ event was attended by Muslims, Christians, atheists and members of the Greens, Labor, LDP and Liberal Parties. I announced on International Women’s Day in Parliament that I’d be in attendance and invited Natalie Hutchins to join me because she is the Minister for Women.”
The Let Women Speak protests in Australia are part of a world tour by Keen-Minshull, who will next travel to Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand.
