Protesters marching against the Springbok rugby tour in 1981 used to chant, “The whole world’s watching”.

I doubt that the world was watching what happened in Auckland this morning (it probably wasn’t watching in 1981 either), but anyone who witnessed what happened to Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker, saw a mortal blow being delivered to New Zealand’s reputation as a civil, liberal democracy where the rule of law applies.

A violent, angry rabble forced Parker to abandon a public meeting as the police stood by and did nothing. She was drowned out when she tried to speak and had tomato soup and food flung at her.

As predicted on this site, the real inciters of hate and disorder turned out to be not the so-called far Right but the woke Left – the same woke Left that tried to convince the High Court yesterday that they were the people who would be at risk if Parker was allowed into New Zealand.

Hypocrisy doesn’t begin to describe it. The English language doesn’t have a strong enough word.

In a perverse way, the trans rights activists have done us a favour by laying bare their hatred, their bigotry, their intolerance of dissenting opinion and their propensity for violence. The people of New Zealand can now see who the real thugs are and who represents the threat to public order.

The people who profess to embrace inclusion and diversity are in fact pathologically hostile to anyone who challenges their world view. As they showed today, they don’t hesitate to use force, numbers and intimidation to silence their opponents.

Auckland Pride festival organiser Max Tweedie and the gay Labour MP Shanan Halbert both told Stuff they were proud of the protesters. Well, there you go; say no more.

Tweedie even had the gall to say that “Tamaki Makaurau demonstrated its values today”. In fact it’s far more likely that the people of Auckland will feel shamed and tainted by what happened at Albert Park. They certainly should be.

And what of the police? They stood back as the diminutive Parker was harassed by a crowd of bullies. They took no action to protect her right to speak, nor the right of people to hear what she had to say – rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights Act. They intervened only when the meeting was abandoned and a frightened-looking Parker had to be escorted through the jostling mob.

So – a black day for free speech and a wake-up call for anyone naïve enough to think the police would uphold the right of peaceful assembly.

To revive another phrase from 1981, this was a Day of Shame.

Karl du Fresne, a freelance journalist, is the former editor of The Dominion newspaper. He blogs at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz.