Valizadeh apologises for cancelling meetings planned for Saturday, saying he ‘can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The leader of a self-described neo-masculinist movement has cancelled a series of meetings planned for cities worldwide on Saturday because he “can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend”.

Daryush Valizadeh, who goes by the name Roosh V, posted a brief statement on Thursday apologising to his “supporters” whom he said were “let down by my decision”, but said he “could not stop men meeting in private groups”.

Meetings were planned in 43 countries, including Britain, where planned gatherings in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Shrewsbury raised concern among police chiefs and MPs.

Nearly 80,000 people signed an online petition calling for Roosh V’s group, dubbed Return of Kings, to be banned from the UK after they advocated women being banned from voting, described a woman’s value as dependent on her “fertility and beauty”, and that women with eating disorders make the best girlfriends.

Before the events were cancelled, shadow Home Office minister Sarah Champion MP demanded that Theresa May take action against the group using hate crime laws.

“Rape of women has increased by 41% in the last year. I’m appalled that the government are sitting idly by whilst a group who believe women are pieces of meat without any rights are allowed to spread their poisonous ideology in the UK,” she said.

“As far as I’m concerned Return of Kings are encouraging violence against women and girls. This should be viewed as a hate crime and the government and police should use our existing laws to deal with it swiftly to show we won’t accept anyone promoting abuse.”

Northumbria’s police and crime commissioner, Vera Baird, had also written to the home secretary urging her to ban Roosh V from the UK, saying his “abhorrent” views have no place in Newcastle.

The Chronicle (@EveningChron) Front page: Petition to ban Roosh V rallies reaches 40,000 signatures.https://t.co/UIHVC8yo94 pic.twitter.com/IFWcBzIxu4

It is understood a number of the planned meetings, including in Melbourne, Australia, were already moved to private property, a reflection either of the concern over safety or the size of the gathering.

Melbourne’s lord mayor, Robert Doyle, told ABC radio on Wednesday that the City of Melbourne could charge anyone planning to hold a meeting for Valizadeh’s group on city land with trespassing.

Nearly 50,000 sign petition to ban pro-rape pick-up artist Read more

Valizadeh’s stated concerns for the safety of male attendees ironically echoed concerns voiced by a number of women on social media, who shared details of the meet-ups accompanied by a warning to other women to “try not to go anywhere alone” this weekend.

He announced his plan to visit Australia by tweeting a screenshot of an airline booking page on Monday and a petition calling for him to be stopped at the border had gathered more than 100,000 signatures by Wednesday.

The organisers of the petition called the result “a victory”, claiming that the Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, had denied Valizadeh’s visa, but a spokeswoman from Dutton’s office said there was “no evidence to suggest he had ever applied for a visa”.

The spokeswoman suggested the travel plans were concocted to create outrage and garner media attention – which worked.

Waleed Aly made the same point in a speech about Valizadeh on Channel 10’s The Project on Tuesday.

Valizadeh, a self-published author who has apparently produced 15 books on how to pick up women in various countries, refused all Australian interview requests but linked or shared all media about his supposed visit. He also claimed he could enter Australia without a visa, apparently via boat.

He has since claimed to be misrepresented by the media, saying an oft-quoted blog post from February 2015 that argued rape was legal if done on private property was “satirical”.

Roosh (@rooshv) I'll state once again: the "How To Stop Rape" article was satire. Neither me or my supporters want rape to be legalized. The media is lying.

“I can tattoo ‘it was satire!’ on my head but the anger wouldn’t be one decibel softer,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “The masses think what the media tells them to think.

“If I get killed right now by an idiot, the media wouldn’t care. They love their power. Tomorrow they would find a new Roosh to martyr.”

He then called for “feminine women who are disgusted with media lying” to follow the hashtag #femininewomenforRoosh. It attracted 17 tweets in five hours, most from men or women mocking Valizadeh.