Posie Parker is rushed from Albert Park. Photo / Dean Purcell
Posie Parker is rushed from Albert Park. Photo / Dean Purcell
An elderly woman allegedly punched during a counter-protest against Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull last month has broken her silence about the incident following the arrest of a man accused of assaulting her.
Police charged a 20-year-old man with assault after the woman, understood to be in her 70s, was allegedly shoved and punched at least twice at the rally for the controversial British speaker, also known as Posie Parker, at Albert Park on March 25.
The woman, who identified herself as a mother and grandmother, said she had been looking forward to listening to the rally’s speakers after having watched Let Women Speak rallies.
Footage circulating on social media from the event showed a heated meeting between the two groups.
“The protestors pushed down the barriers separating us and charged forward,” the woman said.
The charge against the 20-year-old comes nearly a month after Keen-Minshull, a self-described women’s rights activist, had to abort her two-event New Zealand tour when her planned speech in Albert Park was drowned out by counter-protesters.
Keen-Minshull also had tomato juice poured on her by a protester after she walked onstage at the park’s rotunda. She was later escorted away from Albert Park by police as the atmosphere became heated, a video filmed and posted by Keen-Minshull showed.
Keen-Minshull’s trip to New Zealand was highly controversial. Before her arrival, an online petition was launched calling for Keen-Minshull to be kept out of the country.
The elderly woman told the Herald the “campaign” was unfortunate.
“The rallying cry then went out to drown out women’s voices. This cry succeeded [in] its aim by the attendance of 2000-plus protesters on the day,” she said.
She said she wouldn’t make any further comment.
About 150-200 people showed up in support of Keen-Minshull’s Let Women Speak event, but they were dwarfed by a much larger group of counter-protesters.
Earlier this month, the woman accused of throwing tomato juice at Keen-Minshull pleaded not guilty to two charges of assault.
Eli Rubashkyn at the Posie Parker counter-protest at Auckland's Albert Park on March 25.
Eliana Golberstein, also known as Eli Rubashkyn, 34, is charged with assaulting Keen-Minshull in Auckland on March 25.
