Smoke bombs, screaming, police lines, black rubber gloves, arrests and whistles. Just an ordinary Saturday afternoon in Brighton where a group of Liberal Democrat councillors and members got together, sad that their conference had been cancelled, trapped into hotel costs and determined to see the sights.

A series of ‘speaker’s corner’ events called ‘Let Women Speak’ organised by Kellie Jay Keen is attracting extremes of animosity and violence from its detractors.

I don’t trust the news, the selective nature of twitter and online news feeds so on Sunday, September 18, I with others, in the spirit of ‘genchi genbutsu’ decided to go and find out for ourselves.

‘Genchi genbutsu’ is the Japanese principle of going to and experiencing or observing a place and how it operates in order to understand and then solve any problems. ‘See it for yourself’ in other words.

There I met Maya Forstater, the woman who lost her job for saying women don’t have penises.

She successfully took her employer to a tribunal. If only I could report her speech but alas, people with megaphones maintained a constant chant of ‘fascist.’  The irony of chanting ‘fascist’ such that nobody could hear anything was entirely lost on them.

A group of people dressed in black with masks and sunglasses to obscure their faces were also sporting black marigold gloves. Why? Were they about to go home and do some housework, or maybe dismember some bodies? (Yes, I know – I’ve watched too many crime thrillers!)

The explosion of a smoke bomb later thrown into the speakers’ area may explain the rubber protective gear.

A neutral observer would have seen a multicultural, mixed group of about 400 people – all ages and styles gathering peacefully at an event to support the preservation of women’s safe spaces and the freedom to be same-sex attracted.

Opposing them, a group of about 100 tried to disrupt the event using noise and smoke. They failed in that the speeches continued – long live free speech I say!

We saw several trans people who were engaging in a non-violent way and talking to people respectfully, but they were totally outnumbered by screaming shouting spitting aggressive campaigners.

I asked Maya Forstater what it was like to go from ordinary working woman to vilified national target of death threats. How had she coped?

‘Well I just had to put one foot in front of another and keep going’ she said. The quiet persistence of women like Forstater is reassuring.

Facing down feverish abuse with reason and fortitude is admirable. Thanks to Forstater’s court case, nobody can now lose their job for asserting that biological sex is real.

I felt sorrow for some of the activists, so clearly believing that anybody who asks what the phrase ‘trans women are women’ means is evil just for asking.

If anything is evil, it’s the polarisation and reduction of issues into a you’re for me or against me phony war. It is entirely possible to support the rights and protections of trans people while also campaigning to protect the sex-based rights of women.

For four hours a police line separated the spitting screaming protestors from the speaker’s corner event. Police vans were at the ready in expectation of violence. Perhaps inevitably their presence was required and a few arrests were made.

Sadly, it is the curse of all campaigns that they attract a lunatic fringe of people who seek to exploit and bandwagon.  After the event, I spotted Michael Chaves in photos posted online.  He is a notorious antivaxxer and member of a far-right militant group called ‘Alpha Men Assemble.’

One masked activist brought his mother with him. I did wonder if she’d knitted his pink balaclava – it rather sweetly had the word ‘prince’ embroidered on it.

Another had written on his arm: ‘if I’m arrested please call my mum’ plus a number. Why bother dressing in black masks if you’re going to identify yourself so clearly? As in all matters of human behaviour touches of humour and sweetness were present amongst the violence.

Nothing though, excuses the intimidation, the harassment, the bullying and vengeful terrorising of women like Forstater who stand up for basic biology in a political landscape that increasingly seeks to deny women their sex-based rights.