Anti-trans activist sparks political firestorm in NZ

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has left New Zealand but the country is still picking up the pieces from the radical anti-trans activist's whirlwind visit.

The firebrand campaigner, also known as Posie Parker, left Australia for New Zealand on Friday as part of her "Let Women Speak" tour.

She was gone by Sunday, cutting Wellington from her itinerary after a hostile reception to her appearance in Auckland.

The FIFO visit set dozens of hares running, with both LGBTQI groups and right-wing politicians claiming moral victories from the trip.

In Auckland, Ms Keen-Minshull's small rally was crashed and drowned out by thousands of counter-protesters, causing her to flee under security and police escort.

The counter-protest was largely non-violent but images and video circulating on social media showed a small number of Ms Keen-Minshull's supporters were assaulted.

One counter-protester, Eli Rubashkyn, an intersex Colombian-born asylum seeker who lives in Auckland, was unrepentant after dousing Ms Keen-Minshull in tomato juice.

"Trans people are under attack ... every single second of my existence has been a f***ing fight and I am exhausted," she told news outlet Stuff.

"I am so proud I dropped the juice and I would do it again and again. If I have to go to prison for one year, I am more than happy."

Ms Rubashkyn said she was assaulted by anti-trans protesters after the incident.

Police say they did not make any arrests on the day but are continuing to make inquiries and review footage from the event.

Greens co-leader Marama Davidson was caught up in the mess, struck by a passing motorcycle as she moved from one protest to another on Saturday.

She was not harmed but said she was later accosted by a conspiracy theorist media outlet demanding she justified her support for trans women.

As part of her reply, Ms Davidson said "I know what causes violence in this world and it's white cis (non-transgender) men".

Right-wing politicians including David Seymour and Winston Peters called on Ms Davidson, also the family violence minister, to resign.

In a statement on Monday, she did not apologise or resign, saying she was "still in shock" from the motorcycle incident and "not as clear in my comments ... as I should have been".

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins accepted Ms Davidson's explanation, saying "it was appropriate she clarified the statement (and) in the circumstances some leeway be given".

The visit appears to have raised the political temperature in an election year, with New Zealanders off to the polls in October.

Greens co-leader James Shaw predicted the possibility of political violence in an interview last week.

"There's a real possibility we will see some form of political violence this year and someone will be injured or worse," he told Newsroom.

Free speech advocates have lamented the acts of violence and argued Ms Keen-Minshull had the right to stage protests.

Rainbow groups said the huge turnouts at the counter-protests in Auckland and Wellington - which went ahead peacefully after Ms Keen-Minshull's no-show- showed community sentiment was on their side.

Ms Keen-Minshull was seen leaving New Zealand on Sunday, supported by a police guard at Auckland airport.

She has promised to tell her story when she lands, which she alleged included a threat delivered to her hotel.