‘Worst place for women I've ever visited’: Pro-women activist Kellie-Jay Keen flees NZ

Kellie-Jay Keen was doused in tomato juice and pelted with eggs when protesters stormed the rotunda in Auckland where she was due to address supporters.

Anti-transgender campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull was forced to cut a rally short in New Zealand and has now left the country. Picture: Dylan Reeve

Anti-gender reform activist Kellie-Jay Keen has attacked New Zealand as “the worst place for women I’ve ever visited” and fled the country after she was attacked at a speaking event, as author JK Rowling labelled the scenes in Auckland a “repellent” attack on women’s rights.

Mrs Keen, who also goes by the name “Posie Parker” had tomato juice and eggs thrown at her when pro-transgender protesters stormed the rotunda in Albert Park, Auckland where she was due to address supporters.

The British activist was escorted from the park by police before she was able to speak, and she demanded to be taken to a police station, claiming she feared for her life.

On Sunday morning she posted a picture of herself with police at Auckland airport, slamming NZ and offering sympathy to “women who live here,” adding that she “will not stop fighting until they are safe to live in their own land.”

In a series of tweets, she compared her attackers to Orcs from the Lord of the Rings, saying: “The Orcs were more human,” and claiming she was a victim of character assassination aided by a “corrupt media populated by vile dishonest cult members”.

A long campaign to assassinate my character, started by a group of jealous spiteful women in the UK, that I had ambitions besides stopping the mutilation of children and the erasure of women’s rights. A load of lies slurped up by ravenous porn sick men and their transmaidens,… https://t.co/VtkS5yEBs2

— Kellie-Jay Keen (@ThePosieParker) March 25, 2023

They are. I get to leave the worst place for women I’ve ever visited and they live there. I will forever be indebted to them. We will not stop fighting until they are safe to live in their own land. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do more. https://t.co/N9QmAWjEDC

— Kellie-Jay Keen (@ThePosieParker) March 25, 2023

Ms Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, also took to Twitter to defend Mrs Keen, describing the “repellent” scenes in Auckland as “a mob” assaulting “women speaking up for their rights”

The protester who threw tomato juice over her told NZ TV she threw the juice because it represented the blood of “our people” Eliana Rubashkyn, who identifies as trans and inter-sex, added: “I want her to know that her words are blood.”

Mrs Keen, 48, claimed she feared for her safety as she was escorted from the rally. “I genuinely thought if I fell to the floor I would never get up again, my children would lose their mother and my husband would lose his wife,” she wrote on Twitter.

“The end result was that I spent most of my day with the protection of police who genuinely believed I was lucky to be alive. The advice was that I should go home,” she added.

There was little support for Mrs Keen across NZ’s political spectrum, with most politicians expressing sympathy for the protesters.

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said she would not have attended the protest but supported the principle behind the protesters’ actions.

“I wouldn’t have gone. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t support those that are there, and that doesn’t mean that I don’t support the kaupapa (principle). And what they’re standing for,” she told NZ TV.

British activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull aka Posie Parker is escorted from Albert Park. Picture: Dean Purcell

“We’ve got different ways in which we voice our views. Mine would not have been to go to the protests.”

She added: “To me, she’s nothing. I think most New Zealanders have more common sense than that woman has.”

Erica Stanford, immigration spokesman for the opposition National Party, also criticised Ms Keen, blaming the Green party for publicising her visit before she arrived in NZ.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to give her any more airtime than she [Keen-Minshull] deserved.” Ms Stanford told NZ TV.

“I think this is what this all leads to, is the fact that the Greens started it all off by putting it out into the media.

“If she’d come in under the radar, a few people would have turned up, nobody would have known she was here, and she would have gone, and we’d have carried on our tolerant normal ways as we do in New Zealand.”

NZ Immigration had considered barring Ms Keen from entering the country but allowed her in on the grounds that she did not pose a threat to public safety.

However, when announcing that she would be allowed into NZ, Immigration Minister Michael Wood criticised her “inflammatory, vile and incorrect world views”.

Winston Peters, leader of the nationalist NZ First party, attacked the “disgraceful” violence in Auckland, saying most New Zealanders defended freedom of speech.

“Whether you agree with her views or not, the irony of the disgraceful situation that occurred at the Posie Parker event, is that violence, hatred, and intimidation is coming from the very group who claim to be the ones standing up for inclusivity and freedoms,” Mr Peters tweeted.

The group Auckland Pride denied that Ms Keen had abandoned her Wellington rally and fled the country because of fears of violence.

This is what is known as "getting your hands dirty". Thank you for your bravery, Posie. You are a legend. pic.twitter.com/uokiHLfv1s

— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) March 25, 2023

The protester who threw tomato juice over her told NZ TV she threw the juice because it represented the blood of “our people”. Picture: Dylan Reeve

The group said on Twitter: “There is a narrative quickly taking hold amongst anti-trans groups and individuals that Parker abandoned her event because of violence from our community.“ We reject this narrative. We are of the firm belief that the demonstration of unity, celebration, and acceptance alongside joyous music, chanting, and noise of 5,000 supporters was too loud to overcome and the reason for her departure – and not the actions of any one individual.”

Although Ms Keen’s Wellington rally was cancelled, more than 1000 supporters of the transgender community took to the streets in the capital, while hundreds more transgender activists also demonstrated in Christchurch, NZ’s second largest city.