A transgender campaign group defended an activist who attacked a 60-year-old by comparing the ‘radical feminists’ who question their views to ‘Nazis’.
Members of the Action for Trans Health (ATH) clashed with their bitter enemies the Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (or so-called TERFs) in London’s Hyde Park before a scheduled event to discuss gender issues.
It culminated in an unseemly bust-up that ended with a 60-year-old mother-of-two being bundled to the ground and punched in the face by an ATH campaigner.
Following that the group have issued a number of statements defending the activist, widely identified on social media as 25-year-old courier Tara Flik Wood.
Gender warfare: A hoodie-wearing protester raises a fist during the brawl on September 13
Flashpoint: The activist holds mother-of-two Maria MacLachlan, 60, who was left ‘shaken’
It has also emerged that Jess Bradley, a former member of the ATH, gave evidence on gender equality to the woman and equalities select committee in 2015, the Sunday Times reported.
The committee’s report recommended updating legislation to allow people to choose their sex legally without the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. That is now part of a consultation launched by the government on the Gender Recognition Bill.
Police are continuing to investigate following the violent clashes between the transgender activists and ‘radical feminists’ on September 13.
Mother-of-two Maria MacLachlan, who describes herself as a ‘gender critical feminist’, was attacked at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park.
She had joined around 50 fellow TERFs who were to be given details of the secret location for a talk entitled What Is Gender? The Gender Recognition Act And Beyond.
TERFs believe transgender women should not have the same rights as other women, leading to tension between groups.
Ms MacLachlan, a humanist funeral celebrant, said she was talking to one of the event speakers Miranda Yardley when ‘studenty-looking types’ turned up and began arguing.
She said the protestors shouted ‘when the TERFs attack, we fight back’ and she decided to start filming.
Mother-of-two Maria MacLachlan, who describes herself as a ‘gender critical feminist’, was attacked at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park
‘Then suddenly someone tried to grab my camera,’ she said. ‘It was scary. Someone kept trying to get my camera. I think it was a girl, but I couldn’t tell because they had a hoodie over their eyes.’
Writing online she said: ‘I ended up on the ground and it felt like a few of them were punching and kicking me.’
Ms MacLachlan later identified a trans-woman Tara Flik Wood, currently trying to raise £5,000 for vocal-cord surgery to make her voice higher, as one of her attackers.
She said she was ‘shaken’ and suffered bruising to her face, red marks on her neck and grazed knees.
Her Lumix camera was smashed and the memory card stolen. She added: ‘I didn’t go to hospital but it has really shaken me up.’
After the attack ATH’s Edinburgh branch sent a series of tweets defending the use of violence.
They said: ‘Punching terfs is the same as punching Nazis. Fascism must be smashed with the greatest violence to ensure our collective liberation from it’.
‘Violence against terfs is always self defence’, another tweet read.
Bradley, who said she no longer works for the group, tweeted ‘terfs are using Nazi tactics…don’t let it work’.
She is currently the trans officer for the National Union of Students (NUS). They declined to comment.
After the attack ATH’s Edinburgh branch sent a series of tweets defending the use of violence
The group also uploaded this post saying ‘when the terfs attack, we fight back’
Elsewhere on social media ATH supporters say ‘TERFS must die’ and ‘burn in a fire, TERF’.
Before the meeting, a trans-woman posted: ‘Any idea where this is happening? I want to f*** some TERFs up, they are no better than fash [fascists].’
In a statement Action for Trans Health said: ‘We condemn violence against women in all forms. We’re proud that many self-originating activists, allies and supporters stood against hatred, misogyny and intimidation.’
A Scotland Yard spokesman told MailOnline inquiries were ongoing but no arrests had been made.