A New Zealand woman says police contacted her after complaints were made about a Facebook post she shared, which she insists was not intended to be racist.
Renee-Rose Schwenke said officers approached her following a post that featured a photo of herself with two men of Indian appearance in the background, captioned “Welcome to New India”. She said the post was meant as a criticism of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon after a recent free trade agreement with India.
According to Schwenke, the post drew a wave of backlash online, including abusive comments, before being reported to authorities.
She claimed police later got in touch with her over the matter.
"I had the police call me regarding my 'racist' post. It wasn't threatening or inciting violence. I was called into the police station for a senior sergeant to tell me my post was unkind and 'racist', unwelcoming to the Indian community," she wrote, as quoted by the Times of India.
Schwenke criticised the interaction, alleging unprofessional conduct during the discussion.
"He had to walk away from us twice because he was being led by his own personal views and couldn't handle a bit of push back and truth, instead of behaving as a professional. This is what happens when you live under a soft tyranny of the offended peoples.
I won't silence my views to accommodate your feelings," the Times of India has quoted.
She also shared a recording in which a police officer is heard contacting her mother about the situation.
The officer reportedly said they were planning to visit her home “regarding some posts that she's been putting online that people have taken not that great, basically, so they've made some complaints to police,” the Times of India has quoted.
Schwenke further alleged she frequently receives threats and abuse over her views.
"I get deaths threats on the regular for my views and beliefs, I get called every name under the sun racist, transphobic, Islamophobic but somehow I'm in the wrong. This world is upside down, as quoted by the Times of India.
Good is now evil and evil is now good," the woman doubled down.
She later reshared the original post, adding: "If you are offended by this, I'm not Singhling you out. It's nothing personal, not everysingh is about you. No to mass immigration invasion!," the Times of India has quoted.
There has been no official statement from the police regarding the interaction or whether any further action will be taken.
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