The Daily Examiner.

The magistrate at the Waitakere District Court heard how members of a protest group that disrupted a children’s event at the Te Atatu Library on February 15 have been subjected to threats and are being investigated by police for a hate crime.

Seven people linked to Destiny Church, appeared yesterday on assault charges as part of a police investigation into a protest during Pride Festival last month.

The defendants appeared individually before community magistrate Fenella Thomas.

The youngest person charged is 19.

About 20 supporters were denied entry to the courtroom under a directive from magistrate.

Defence lawyer Bridget Lawler applied for interim name suppression for all defendants on the grounds that they had faced threats to their safety.

She argued some have had their work and study impacted, including one who was stood down from work as a result of the charges they faced.

Lawler said one defendants had been subject to a “hate crime” which was being investigated by police.

The magistrate declined interim name suppression for six of the accused, saying she did not find an arguable case in that the protest had been widely covered on the media and social media and that the defendants willingly expose themselves to public scrutiny by participating in a protest of this public nature.

One had interim name suppression approved on the basis of their young age.

However none can be named, pending the defence’s applications to appeal the decision.

None entered a plea, and all were remanded on bail until early April.

Bail conditions included not being within 100m of the Te Atatu Community Centre and not contacting any of the complainants.