Wed 25 Feb 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The group which led the protest at Saturday’s Auckland Pride Parade is now calling for the President of the Gay Auckland Business Association to resign. While Heather Carnegie was at the event as manager of the Glamstand, not in her GABA role, they believe she should step down, saying "she was managing the GABA-sponsored Glamstand and as such represented both GABA and the Festival”. The No Pride in Prisons group claims she behaved in a violent manner towards the protest group, and “violently shoved” one of its members. Carnegie has firmly denied this, stating “at no time did I personally struggle with any of the protesters, who were the ones being violent resisting security and police efforts to get them off the road.” The protestors maintain her actions were inexcusable and irresponsible. They are also not happy that Carnegie threw the phone of a protest supporter, who was filming as a member of the protest group was detained. “This resulted in permanent damage to the phone with much of the earlier footage lost,” spokesperson Jennifer Shields says. They also accuse Carnegie of verbally abusing of the protestors, telling them to leave the parade and to stop filming. “She did nothing to stop Pride festival security from fracturing a young Māori trans woman’s arm. Instead, she allowed and condoned their behaviour,” Shields says. Heather Carnegie bending down to talk to the protestor No Pride in Prisons also claims there is video evidence showing the arrested protestor being “intimidated and interrogated” by Carnegie as she awaited medical attention. The video does not make it clear what Carnegie is saying to the woman as she bends down to talk to her, and moves her hair out of her face. Others who were at the scene believe she was asking the woman if she was ok. A spokesperson says the injured protestor's memory is starting to recover and she remembers the police officer in the footage of her on the ground taking her details, "and Carnegie telling her she should be ashamed - not comforting her as people have been claiming". There is much disparity between protestors’ and other witnesses’ accounts of what happened during the protest. Numerous people who saw what happened have told GayNZ.com Daily News that they firmly believe Carnegie was not violent. They say she tried move a protestor from the parade route with a hand on their back. The protestors say the above photo taken by a GayNZ.com photographer shows Carnegie shoved and accosted a protestor. The photographer who took the image says this was not the case, although Carnegie's momentary body position at the time the shot was taken might suggest this. Our photographer says she was intently watching the disturbance on the road and at no time saw Carnegie behaving violently there as the protesters later alleged. However, a video centred on the handcuffed protester after she had been removed from the parade route shows Carnegie suddenly in possession of a cellphone which she examines then tosses aside. This is at variance with her explanation of the incident issued on Monday in which it is said that "There was a minor incident while being pushed in the chest by a protester videoing on a phone. When trying to get them to stop, the phone went flying. This was unintentional." Auckland Pride Festival says the protest group broke onto the Parade route with the intention of causing disruption. “Having jumped the barriers, they were in breach of the Health Safety rules which govern the Pride Parade. The Parade Security and Marshall personnel immediately went into action to remove them from the parade route. “There was considerable danger to the protesters as the police march involved large motorcycles, dogs and horses not to mention a large band in formation. “The possibility of injury to the protestors or the marchers was therefore high and it was imperative that they be removed as quickly as possible. The only person who got hurt was one protester whose arm was twisted when she was fighting the security people and later the police themselves.” Pride co-founder Gresham Bradley says “our people were placed in a difficult and rapidly escalating situation by these protesters”. He says no witnesses they have contacted can recall any violence by anyone but the protesters themselves. “Videos of the incident bear this out. The parade marshals and security and the police whose job it is to deal with situations like this did what they are trained to do when confronted. It’s sad to see these people trying to ruin our celebrations and then throwing accusations at us.” It is, however, unclear at that stage in what capacity Carnegie was away from the Glamstand area and out on the parade route where she was one of those who intervened in trying to stop the protest from blocking the parade. No Pride in Prisons maintains Carnegie should resign and is urging other queer and non-queer organisations and communities to speak out. It is looking for legal counsel, as it seeks recuperation of any losses incurred to the owner of the damaged phone. The protestor who says her arm was fractured when she was thrown to the ground by security was discharged from hospital this morning. Police continue to investigate the culpability of anyone involved. Debate is raging about the protest on GayNZ.com’s Facebook page, with it proving to be one of the most divisive issues we’ve ever covered. GayNZ.com Daily News has this afternoon forwarded questions to Carnegie asking for her reaction to the resignation call, and for her to clarify the basis for her intervention in the parade area and the discrepancy between her explanation and the video recording of of the cellphone incident.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 25th February 2015 - 4:54pm