A feminist campaigner, nicknamed Belstaffie, led the chanting about ending violence against women and girls when a man interrupted them shouting “transwomen are women,” which was met by the protesters with “transwomen are men.” According to WRN, he left, and the march resumed.
But the women at the back, mostly mothers from WRN with their girls, heard a “commotion up ahead” and saw a glass bottle landing near them, forcing some of the women with children to leave immediately.
“We looked up ahead to see that Belstaffie had milkshakes thrown over her,” while a man with pink hair wearing a dress was running away. The march went on - the protesters thought the threat was finally over. However, moments later, the attacks resumed. Two women were walking together with four girl children aged 2 to 6, when the same man ran past them, grabbing their sign and destroying it.
According to Gemma Aitchison, the event was “a march about violence against women and girls and how the systems are not responding as they should be, women's anger about their right to feel safe.” She was also attacked with a milkshake thrown at her face but tried to reason with the attacker, as Gemma believes that “communication is key to conflict resolution.”
“One of their group said that her friend - the perpetrator in the dress - had felt threatened by us protesting against male violence and was also intimidated now,” said a WRN member.
But, according to Gemma, “violence broke out between the male who threw the drink on me and other women.” She put herself between the man and the other women to stop the man from assaulting the protesters, but ended up being punched and knocked to the ground.
He then reappeared with his coterie, I assume to admire his handiwork,” said a WRN member. “They [the counter protesters] had followed the march and had targeted another woman multiple times,” she added.
Yup; peace and love towards all women.