JK Rowling on Sunday mocked male trans activists who dressed in balaclavas and black outfits to block women from speaking about women’s rights in front of a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst.
She was responding to video from Manchester which showed the black-clad men from the group Manchester Trans Rise Up dressed in masks to surround the statue of the suffragette leader.
Campaign group Standing For Women had been planning to speak in front of the statue as part of an event which said it aimed to reclaim a part of Manchester for women’s voices.
But they were forced to move elsewhere and video later showed a tussle between the two opposing groups of protesters.
Mocking the black-clad men on Twitter, Rowling wrote: “‘There is no conflict between women’s rights and our ideology. To prove it, we’ve dressed up as ninjas to block public access to a statue of a suffragette. We’re confident this has done wonders for our cause and definitely isn’t an unintentionally hilarious own goal.'”
She later added: ‘I never expected the right side of history to include so many people in masks intimidating and assaulting women, did you?
‘But she never dropped her flag. Emmelline would be proud.’
Kellie-Jay Keen, the founder of Standing For Women told the crowd the opposing demonstrators ‘can’t take our thoughts and won’t take our rights’.
