Two rival groups of protesters have been involved in heated verbal altercations in Auckland sparked by the two alt-right Canadians who were scheduled to speak in the city last night.
A small group of free speech campaigners gathered in Aotea Square in the city's CBD in response to the cancellation of Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux’s speaking engagement in Auckland yesterday.
In response, a larger group of anti-racism activists protested against the racist "hate speech" that the Candian pair were set to convey.
"They're [Ms Southern and Mr Molyneux] simply here defending their rights to free speech and to live in a democracy and not be challenged or intimidated with leftist terrorists," one free speech campaigner explained.
The anti-racism protesters said the hateful and divisive views of the alt-right Canadian pair were dangerous.
"Free speech should be protected, the ability of people to criticise - let's say, political Islam or any kind of religion - should be protected and I’ll support it," an anti-racism campaigner explained.
"However, when it comes to the hate speech, I doubt the people who convey the message of superiority over other races, ethnicities and say, for example, that Aboriginal people have a lower IQ, as has happened in Sydney previously before they came to New Zealand.
"Everyone who knows the history of these speakers - it's not about free speech, it's about inciting divisions and hate and that's the issue here.
"When you spew hatred and division and you're causing rifts between people, it's dangerous. Imagine if in the 1930s, someone protected Hitler under the premise of free speech. How would people feel about that?"
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