Frustrated vegan Cilla Carden is so fed up with her neighbours she has taken them to court over the smell of meat and smoke. Photo / Nine News
The lawyer for a Perth vegan woman who took her neighbours to court over the smell of meat cooking has hit out "nasty" online comments amid concerns a planned "community barbecue" outside her home had gotten out of hand.
More than 24,000 people on Facebook responded to the proposed event outside Cilla Carden's home, prompting a warning from WA Police. The event page has since been removed.
"It's really sad what people are doing, there has been a lot of malicious and nasty comments," Ms Carden's lawyer John Hammond told Nine News on Thursday night.
WA Police commissioner Chris Dawson also issued a warning. "If people are planning to protest do it in a civil, orderly way," he told the broadcaster.
It came after the person that created the event spoke out about the "ridiculous situation". It was created after Nine News aired a story about Ms Carden taking her neighbours to court over the smell of their barbecue.
Ms Carden claimed her neighbour Toan Vu, along with his wife and children, deliberately let the smell of meat and fish they were cooking drift into the backyard of her home in Girrawheen.
The massage therapist claimed the smell became so bad that she could no longer enjoy her backyard so she took them to a tribunal in January. Her claims were rejected so she applied to the Supreme Court of Western Australia to appeal the decision but that was also rejected.
The story made international headlines and in response an October 19 event was created called "Community BBQ for Cilla Carden". The event description urged attendees not to let Ms Carden "destroy a good old Aussie tradition".
"Join us for a community BBQ in protest of her actions and help Cilla Carden GET SOME PORK ON HER FORK," it said. As the event gained more attention, people were reminded that it would be a "peaceful protest" and nobody would be permitted to enter Ms Carden's property.
The creator of the event, who has since deleted their Facebook account, posted a statement on the page explaining it was created in response to Ms Carden's "ridiculous" story and to shine a light on "militant vegans".
"We did this to highlight the constant struggle our farmers are enduring to keep our country fed, and safe from vegan extremists," the statement read.
"Our farmers are constantly having their crops sabotaged, properties vandalised and broken into, families terrified, and animals stolen or killed, by these militant vegan warriors, across our country, night after night, and they are getting away with it, we have seen $2 fines and slaps on the wrists by our court systems for too long.
"This event has shown how the Aussie spirit, can get behind a cause they believe in phenomenal numbers, so we ask you this, use that same Aussie spirit and pride, and stand up, to help our farmers NOW.
"Let's show these vegans what being an Australian is truly about!"
After receiving such an overwhelming response, the creator started asking for help from event organisers, food trucks and live entertainment to ensure the barbecue remained a peaceful protest and "not a riot".
However, it seems the event may no longer be going ahead.
"As many of you know this event has far too many logistic concerns to actually come to fruition, and we do not condone the harassment of Mrs Carden or the trespass onto her land," a follow-up post read.
People have instead been urged to donate the money they would spend on a snag to the Drought Angels charity. "BATTLING A DROUGHT IS HARD ENOUGH, without these inner city hipsters running around causing our farmers more losses and stress," the organiser wrote.
Another organiser for the event confirmed to news.com.au that the event had gathered a lot more publicity than they originally thought and the numbers have become too great for them to handle.
They also noted that Ms Carden had not made any attempt to contact them directly and if she had they would have assured her the event wouldn't actually be happening.
After the event started gaining traction, Ms Carden's lawyer Mr Hammond posted a statement to the page warning anyone who attended would face criminal charges.
"Any person who seeks to attend Ms Carden's property on Saturday October 19, 2019 or at any other time in relation to this event or matter will be referred to the WA Police on the ground of trespass," he wrote.
"Security cameras will be installed to obtain vision of any person attending the property and the vision will be provided to the police."
He also added that his client had "no objection to people eating meat and no objection to people having barbecues".