JK Rowling slams reporter who said Let Women Speak rally staged neo-Nazi salutes

British author JK Rowling has launched a blistering attack on a reporter over an article about a controversial feminist rally crushed by neo-Nazis in Melbourne.

Reporter Patrick Strudwick wrote in an article on iNews about the ‘Let Women Speak’ rally led by anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen in Melbourne on March 19.

The rally was crashed by neo-Nazis who gave the Hitler salute and clashed with trans rights activists.

“In March, an anti-trans rally organized by British ‘gender-critical’ campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen in Melbourne brought a mass Nazi salute,” Strudick wrote.

She called this evidence of far-right influence over those questioning elements of the transgender rights agenda, saying there was a “fascist takeover of transphobic ideas.”

Rowling, 57, hit back on Tuesday in a heated tweet mocking claims that the ‘Let Women Speak’ rally had anything to do with the neo-Nazis, who broke up the event.

“This is a lie so brazen, so easily rebuttable, and so ignominious, I’m surprised it was allowed by a supposedly reliable news source.”

The line in question has since been removed from the article, but not before Rowling grabbed a screenshot of it and posted it to her 14 million followers.

A group of about a dozen men in balaclavas and black vests hijacked the meeting in Melbourne earlier this year.

The men stood in silence with arms raised in a Heil Hitler salute as trans rights activists chanted, “Unite, unite to fight the right!”

Footage showed policemen on horseback rounding up the crowd, taunting each other, while officers formed a human chain to keep demonstrators apart.

There is no indication that the neo-Nazis were invited to participate in the meeting by Ms Keen-Minshull or anyone else associated with it.

“Real Nazis have popped up on the fringes of Let Women Speak events for exactly the same reason aggressive, narcissistic trans activists are there,” Rowling tweeted.

‘These groups are very similar. Both are full of misogynistic opportunists who use a clash of rights to push their own agendas.”

The celebrated author and philanthropist, who has been “canceled” in some circles for her outspoken views on transgender issues, went on to compare trans activists to far-right activists.

She said both groups show up to Let Women Speak rallies “in the hope of violence, and neither cares about the women who are there to speak out in their own voice, about their own lives, on their own behalf” .

“No one but useful idiots can be really surprised that REAL fascists have seen a glorious opportunity in trans activism,” she wrote.

The homophobic, anti-feminist far right has long claimed that the left is degenerate, foolish, immoral and authoritarian.

And now they can point to the rambling arguments of the gender ideologues, the bullying tactics of the non-platformers, and the swarms of masked men who threaten violence against women for wanting to preserve same-sex spaces, and crows “we told you so “. .’

Rowling ended her tweet by writing: “It is high time those peddling lies like Strudwick’s were called to account and I sincerely hope that (Mrs Keen-Minshull) takes action.’

Daily Mail Australia contacted Strudwick for comment.

The Victoria police were criticized by some for failing to stop the neo-Nazis from giving their Heil Hitler salute, although it is not illegal.

Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Police Association of Victoria, said officers prevented a fight between rival groups but lacked the power to prevent political expression, even by neo-Nazis.

The Victorian state government subsequently pledged to strengthen its anti-defamation laws to ban the Nazi salute and associated symbols such as the swastika.