US-based "neomasculinist" Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh. Worldwide gatherings planned for Saturday have been cancelled due to safety and privacy concerns.

Controversial "neomasculinist" group Return of Kings has cancelled gatherings planned in more than 40 countries, including New Zealand.

The "meetups" planned for Saturday were cancelled because the safety and privacy of men who wanted to attend could not be guaranteed, group creator Roosh Valizadeh said on Thursday.

Valizadeh, who advocates for legalising rape on private property and supported the Roast Busters group in the past, had set up the meetings for like-minded men across the globe.

He had already been forced to take some of the gatherings "underground", saying that in order to save the group's "most threatened meetups", men in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Iceland and United Kingdom needed to come up with alternate meeting locations.

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New Zealand's meetups were planned for Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

Valizadeh announced the cancellation on the Return of Kings website.

"I can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend on February 6, especially since most of the meetups can not be made private in time," he said.

"While I can't stop men who want to continue meeting in private groups, there will be no official Return Of Kings meetups. The listing page has been scrubbed of all locations. I apologise to all the supporters who are let down by my decision."

Previously he was predicting "one of the biggest meetups the world has seen", with 165 gatherings planned. They would be the start of regular gatherings "that serve men in a way that internet sites do not".

Original locations planned for this country were Aotea Square in Auckland, Glover Park in Wellington, and in front of Dunedin Town Hall.

After it had been decided to go underground, followers were instructed to meet at these places, identify each other using code phrases, then move to another location.

Protests in opposition to the New Zealand meetups were still going ahead.

Auckland man John Palethorpe was involved in organising a protest against the "pro rape" group.

Hundreds are expected to attend a peaceful occupation - dubbed an "anti-misogyny party" - at Auckland's Aotea Square on Saturday from 8pm. A similar event was also planned for Wellington.

Palethorpe said Valizadeh embodied "the sort of aggressive, violent, misogyny women face everyday".

Valizadeh established the Return of Kings website in 2012 and has more than 18,000 Facebook likes and publishes about 15 articles a month.

He has talked on social media about making a visit to Australia, a suggestion met with opposition and calls to ban him. Similar calls have been made in this country, should he decide to try to visit here.

Police in this country called the group's views "distasteful and offensive" and had planned to monitor the meetings before they were cancelled.

In 2013 Valizadeh posted on Facebook in apparent support of the Roast Busters, a group of young Auckland men who boasted online about having sex with drunk, underage girls, on social media.

He posted a link to a news report about the group, commenting: "New Zealand authorities encourage girls to come forth with false rape charges against group of men".