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 suffered concussion after being assaulted during a violent melee when Destiny Church followers stormed a Pride event at an Auckland library.
Violence broke out at a library drag event on Saturday when Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church members swarmed at the Te Atatū Community Centre to protest a children’s show.
Police confirmed tonight they are investigating allegations of assault after about 50 people entered the building and refused to leave.
The fracas, involving Destiny Church’s Man Up and Legacy groups as well as youngsters, saw them punching, pushing and shoving their way inside.
About 30 toddlers, young children and adults had to be barricaded inside, RNZ reported.
Sarah* told the Herald her daughters Brooklyn*, 20, and Christina*, 16, were attending a dodgeball tournament in the venue’s gymnasium when protesters blocked both entrances and interrupted the games with loudspeakers.
“They said [the demonstration] was to keep the kids safe, but they brought their kids there and their children were unsupervised and roaming wild.”
She said the protesters then started marching upstairs towards the library, despite being told they could not go up to a privately booked space, and forced their way through the workers.
Some youth from the dodgeball teams, including Brooklyn and Christina, joined efforts by librarians and pride workers to stop the demonstrators from reaching the library.
A deleted livestream posted by Brian Tamaki’s Freedoms and Rights Coalition West Auckland shows the protesters attempting to force their way up the stairs, and two women - one in a white cap, and another in a black cap - throwing punches towards Brooklyn and Christina.
In another video sent to the Herald, the woman in white can be heard telling Brooklyn, “I’m trying to save you, man,” as she begins assaulting her, to which Brooklyn responds, “No you’re not! Get off!”
Sarah claimed the woman in white held Brooklyn down so the attacker’s daughter in the black cap could assault Christina.
The Destiny Church demonstrators then formed a haka, in what Sarah described as an effort to “cover up their assaults” on the staff and dodgeball players.
She said the woman in white denied committing any violence following the attack.
Christina, 16, was concussed during the assault, while Brooklyn was left with bruises to her ribs and arms.
“[My children] did not know this level of hatred and bigotry existed today,” Sarah said.
“The people who came to protest, came from a place fuelled by hatred.”
In a sermon on Sunday morning, Tamaki told his congregation he gave members the green light to storm the library.
In a livestream of the sermon, Tamaki said he instructed the church elder: “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.”
Speaking yesterday, Tamaki told the Herald that 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”.
“Today, passionate parents and youth gathered to protest ... an R18+ adult entertainer who is being paid by ratepayers to perform for children.
“This is not okay. This is child abuse,” he claimed.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful protest, but Destiny Church went “too far”.
He told media that Aotearoa is a great country that celebrates diversity, and that has made it a better place.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said Destiny Church’s actions were “totally unacceptable”.
“While I respect freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest, to enter a council library facility that is there for all our communities to use and intimidate council staff, volunteers and community members going about their business is completely out of line,” Brown said.
Acting Waitematā District Commander Inspector Simon Walker told the Herald police “strongly condemned” the group’s actions and said the protest “crossed a line”.
Auckland Council chief executive Phil Wilson said the protest was “outrageous and unacceptable”.
He described visiting the Te Atatū centre twice on Saturday, first seeing Destiny Church protesting outside the community centre, and then witnessing “50 or 60″ protesters forcibly entering the building.
Hours later, the same groups broke through police barricades at the Auckland Rainbow Parade and held up the festivities with a haka. As police dispersed them, they danced and swaggered away, smiling and waving an at unimpressed crowd.
A witness described a heightened police presence at Sunday’s Big Gay Out in Pt Chevalier, with up to 20 police cars reported at the event.
Tamaki instructed his followers to rest on Sunday instead of protesting the festival at Coyle Park.
Police said no arrests have been made relating to Saturday’s events, but a criminal investigation into the alleged assaults was now in the early stages.
*Names have been changed to protect their identity
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