Police refuse to give gender of suspects in transgender brawl
POLICE have released pictures of suspects they want to interview in connection with an assault at a transgender event, but will not state their gender.
In what appears to be a first for Scotland Yard, they fear treading on gender sensitivities in their attempts to find out who punched a photographer.
Apparently concerned about a potential backlash, officers said identity in this case was “a grey area”.
“We have to be careful,” said a police spokesman. “We are not going to commit ourselves to something because I’m afraid it’s not black and white.”
One of the suspects, who allegedly knocked a woman to the floor, smashed her camera and kicked her, was described as “white, around 5ft 7in and of slim build with brown chin-length hair with blonde ends”. The other had short blonde hair and was wearing a black, grey and white hooded camouflage jacket and multicoloured leggings. A third suspect was confirmed as male, around 6ft tall with brown shoulderlength hair worn in a ponytail.
The brawl took place last month at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, ahead of a gender recognition talk.
The event was arranged by a panel of Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFS), who believe that trans women should not be given the same rights as those born female. Around 80 had gathered in the park when Maria Maclachlan, 60, who describes herself as a “gender critical feminist”, was punched.
A Times journalist at the event wrote: “Trans activists and feminists were chanting and taunting each other. Maria was taking photographs when an opponent grappled with her, snatched her camera and smashed it on the ground.
“Then a tall, male-bodied, hooded figure wearing make-up rushed over, hit her several times and as police arrived, ran away. I asked a young activist if she was OK with men smacking women: ‘It’s not a guy, you’re a piece of s--- and I’m happy they hit her,’ came the reply.”
After the attack, Ms Maclachlan wrote: “My sympathies for trans people started to evaporate after being shocked at the hatred and abuse and threats being directed at women who think as I do, that gender is a load of c*** and there’s nothing wrong with being a ‘feminine’ man or a ‘masculine woman’ – but women are adult human females and men are adult human males.”