A group wearing Man Up T-shirts block Ponsonby Rd, holding up the parade as they performed a haka. Video / Supplied
Auckland police will be monitoring a protest against Destiny Church in Albert Park on Sunday.
Activist group People Against Prisons Aotearoa says it is possible church members may turn up, however, a spokeswoman for Brian Tamaki says they are ignoring the event.
Protest organisers say it is in response to church groups Man Up and Legacy storming a children’s event at Te Atatū library last Saturday.
A show of force against Destiny Church is planned for Auckland’s Albert Park tomorrow afternoon and police say they will be there keeping a close eye on it.
Political activist group People Against Prisons Aotearoa (Papa) has planned a protest to “show Destiny Church that they are a tiny, hateful portion of our population” after violent scenes erupted when members stormed a children’s event hosted by a drag artist and disrupted the Auckland Rainbow Parade last Saturday.
Police will be present in the area of the central city park and have been in contact with protest organisers, a police spokesman told the Herald.
“Our focus remains on people’s safety and our staff will respond to any matters if they arise,” the spokesman said.
Police will be present in the area of Albert Park tomorrow and have been in contact with organiser of a protest against Destiny Church. Photo / Carolyn Robertson
Volunteers will also be on-site as marshals, Papa said. It said it had safety plans in place.
Papa said it would be demanding the Government “dismantle Destiny Church organisationally and deregister all of Destiny’s charities” and call for government agencies to stop referring people to “Destiny front groups like Man Up”.
While protest organisers said it was possible counter-protesters could attend, the church has told the Herald it was ignoring it. Church leader Brian Tamaki’s father died on Thursday morning and he has been in Te Awamutu for his tangi.
Tamaki and Destiny Church have had increased media attention since the melee last Saturday, where members of the church’s Man Up and Legacy groups and youngsters were seen forcefully pushing and shoving their way inside the Te Atatū Community Centre.
Destiny Church groups Man Up and Legacy Sisterhood protest against a children's library drag event at Te Atatū Community Centre.
A 16-year-old girl attending a sports event at the community centre suffered a concussion after being allegedly assaulted during the protest. Police said the following day they were investigating allegations of assault after 50 people entered the building and refused to leave.
In a sermon after the protest, Tamaki told his congregation he had instructed a group leader to enter the building: “I want you to storm the library they’re in and shut it down.”
“There might have been some pushing and shoving, but I would smack someone who was trying to pervert my child in a room,” he told his congregation.
Tamaki then claimed on social media on Monday: “Rainbow activists were the first to throw multiple punches at our peaceful protestors. They were the violent ones.”
Video footage seen by the Herald showed a group wearing Man Up and Legacy shirts confronting library and event staff forming a barricade to stop them from entering the ticketed event before bowling past.
Tamaki told the Herald Man Up was forced to step up and take peaceful action with the Government refusing to “address the excessive spending on borderline pornography and perversion targeting our innocent Kiwi kids”.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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