The FSU letter has received over 14,500 signatures on the first day.
FSU are calling on kiwis to add their signature to a public letter they have drafted to the Minister of Police and the Police Commissioner, denouncing the lack of police action at Albert Park, and the ‘Thugs Veto’.
The letter reads:
Dear Minister,
At the ‘Let Women Speak’ rally on Saturday in Auckland’s Albert Park, Police claimed regarding women’s right activist, Posie Parker, that “she is in a public space. If she feels unsafe she needs to leave.” Regardless of our views on Parker’s claim, this is an abject failure of the Police to do their job; defending the basic liberties of those in New Zealand, including free speech.
The counter-protest on Saturday used the ‘Thug’s Veto’ to silence opponents, not through debate or reason, but through manifest intimidation.
Without the right to peacefully gather and express beliefs and opinions, controversial or condemnable though some may consider them to be, free speech is no longer protected in New Zealand. Free speech guarantees the right to both express perspectives and views, and also to hear others perspectives and views.
The Police have failed in their duty to protect these foundational rights.
If you take free speech off the table, as it seems Police allowed to happen on Saturday, the contested opinions and beliefs don’t simply go away. However, the ability to express them peacefully is undone. This leaves only far more extreme forms of expression on the table. We are concerned for the tenor of public debate, and the potential for this to produce violence.
We believe in tolerance. Without free speech, eventually we will all lose.
We call on you, and the Police Commissioner, to acknowledge the lack of action to defend the basic speech rights of those who turned up to the ‘Let Women Speak’ rally, and reassert that those who express unpopular or controversial views in public are entirely in their right, and deserve to be protected from threats, intimidation, and violence.
People wanting to sign can do so online here.
The Police must do their duty to uphold the law against mob violence and the 'thugs veto'. Add your name to our letter to the Police Minister and the Police Commissioner here:https://t.co/ougC6S56wa pic.twitter.com/At3ggazU6h
— 🗣 Free Speech Union ✊ (@NZFreeSpeech) March 25, 2023
MEDIA RELEASE: Over 12,000 sign public letter in 24 hours denouncing police inaction at Albert Park
Our public letter is still open, too- stand against the thugs' veto and add your name here: https://t.co/Th8RuWMTZG pic.twitter.com/A3CWVIhO8B
— 🗣 Free Speech Union ✊ (@NZFreeSpeech) March 26, 2023
It’s very obvious the police were ordered to stand down.
Sadly the cops have become nothing more than enforcers for a corrupt government.
Hell is empty, the devils are all here