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Kyle Chapman, Right Wing Resistance - Source: Close Up -
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The leader of a far right group running an anti-Asian campaign in Auckland is trying to "divide New Zealand up", an academic says.
For the past three months the Right Wing Resistance has been circulating flyers which claim an Asian invasion is taking place.
Group leader Kyle Chapman told TV ONE's Close Up tonight that the flyer distribution, which has been undertaken in areas with high Asian populations like Pakuranga, Howick and Northcote, was a "recruitment campaign for people that are like minded like us".
However, Professor Manying Ip of the University of Auckland School of Asian Studies said members of the Chinese community had been left "very alarmed" at the Christchurch based group's actions.
She said the leaflets incited racial hatred and she hoped New Zealand's Race Relations Conciliator investigated.
"I suggest Mr Chapman is trying to divide New Zealand up," Ip told Close Up.
"I think New Zealand is for all New Zealanders and the Chinese, for example, have been in the country for over 150 years."
Chapman, the former head of the National Front, repeatedly avoided revealing on Close Up how many members the Right Wing Resistance had, saying "we don't talk about numbers, to us that's irrelevant".
"Our long term goal is to do protests and we need people to for that and that's what we're doing."
"These flyers are about finding the people that agree with us. It's not about stirring up people if other people feel like getting stirred up that's their choice."
He said the group's members were not "white supremacists" but "white nationalists".
Asian liaison officer Raymond Wong said police would not hesitate to prosecute anyone who commits or incites any form of violence, especially if it is racially motivated.
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