A No campaigner who was spat on by a Yes supporter has shared new footage after claiming he was allegedly assaulted by another activist shortly afterwards.
Andrew Thaler was at a Yes campaign event in Cooma, south-east NSW, when he was filmed being spat on by Voice supporter and ANU Emeritus Professor Denise Ferris on September 17.
Mr Thaler then claimed he was allegedly assaulted by another campaigner immediately afterwards with footage of the altercation coming to light on Monday.
Footage showed a man allegedly striking Mr Thaler near a Yes tent before Ms Ferris walks over and is seen taking a swipe at the No campaigner’s phone.
Mr Thaler, a well-known activist, has courted controversy over the past year. He was branded a ‘parasite’ by 2GB presenter Ben Fordham after he claimed he spoke on behalf of the family whose grandmother, Clare Nowland, 95, was fatally tasered at a nursing home in Cooma on May 17.
He has also run for political office at various levels of government, and in 2022 pleaded guilty to intimidating a Rural Fire Service staff member four years earlier. He avoided a conviction.
New footage has surfaced after a No campaigner was spat on by a Yes supporter before he claims he was allegedly assaulted by another activist
In video taken by Mr Thaler at the Yes event, the man is seen pressing his face close to camera.
The incident unfolded after Mr Thaler was spat on by professor Ferris with the No campaigner demanding to know the name of the woman following the act.
‘So what is this b***h’s name? Someone tell me? I came over to get a photo of your lambs,’ Mr Thaler said.
The man in the video is seen confronting the No campaigner.
‘Hey, f***wit, p*** off. F***wit, p*** off,’ he said.
‘No, I’m standing my ground,’ Mr Thaler replied. ‘Stop pushing into me.’
The man is seen in the video waving his arm towards Mr Thaler who holds up his right arm trying to ward him off.
‘One metre,’ Mr Thaler said. ‘Do it again.’
A female is heard pleading with the man on camera.
Andrew Thaler was at a Yes campaign event in Cooma, south-east NSW , when he was filmed being spat on by Voice supporter and ANU Emeritus Professor Denise Ferris on September 17
‘One metre, give me her name,’ Mr Thaler repeated.
Prof Ferris can be seen in the footage slapping at Mr Thaler’s right hand and he drops the phone.
Mr Thaler told Daily Mail Australia he was trying to hold back the arm with his one arm while he filmed the altercation.
‘I was trying to make him stand back a metre with my right arm while my left hand was holding the phone,’ he said.
‘Other Yes people were walking around me and surrounding me. One of them even went over and approached my wife.’
‘And then some of our supporters came over.’
Professor Ferris is heard in the footage saying she would call the police.
Mr Thaler encourages her saying she just spat on him.
‘I did not,’ Professor Ferris said.
‘It’s on video you stupid b***h,’ Mr Thaler replied.
Mr Thaler (pictured) has accused the police of dragging their feet over the investigation into confrontations with Yes campaigners
Mr Thaler has said he was earlier confronted by Professor Ferris when walking over to the Labor party Yes23 tent to take a picture of petting zoo lambs at around lunch time during a monthly markets held in the park.
‘I was just getting a photograph of the lambs,’ Mr Thaler said.
‘They were using that to attract the kids and bring the parents over with them. It was a cheap stunt but the little lambs were in the sun all day.’
In the video Mr Thaler can be heard calling Professor Ferris a ‘stupid mole’ before she is seen spitting on the lens.
Professor Ferris has claimed the argument had nothing to do with the Voice and that she felt accosted by Mr Thaler who made her react in a panicked state of ‘fight or flight’.
She claimed to only be trying to ‘block’ Mr Thaler’s camera ‘without engaging in physical contact’.
‘I did not spit on him. I wanted to block his camera without engaging in physical contact,’ she said Flight? Am I to turn my back on him — no way, too scared of his actions, it was so traumatic.’
Mr Thaler accused NSW Police of dragging their feet over the incident.
Professor Denise Ferris (pictured) has denied spitting on Mr Thaler and said she acted out of ‘fight or flight’ panic
A NSW Police spokesperson said an ‘investigation is ongoing’ and that there were ‘no updates that we can provide’.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Clr Summers and the man for comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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