The Human Rights Commission has confirmed to Chris Lynch Media it has received complaints following comments made by Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson.

Davidson, who is the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Minister, on Saturday was filmed saying: “I am the prevention violence minister and I know who causes violence in the world, it is white cis men” after attending a trans rights protest in Auckland.

On Monday Davidson said she was still “in shock” after being hit by a motorcycle and wasn’t as clear as she could have been in her comments.

“I was confronted by a representative from the far-right and conspiracy theory website Counterspin who was filming me walking down the road before accosting me with inflammatory questions,” she said.

Chris Lynch Media requested a comment from the Race Relations Commission Meng Foon.

In a statement released on Tuesday the Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission it had received complaints about this matter.

“We must remain impartial when dealing with complaints, so will not be making any statement on the specific incident.”

However, it said “we encourage all people in positions of leadership to work at all times to foster harmonious relationships between communities and to use constructive and inclusive language.”

The statement said “we advocate for a human rights-based approach that enables discussion without polarisation and sensationalism.

The aim is not to entrench division and distract from the legitimate progress of human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand, but to enable a nuanced, inclusive and evidence-based perspective.”

It said “an all-of-society approach that accommodates Aotearoa’s diversity will help create a place where we can all feel safe and be proud to call home.”

In an article published by New Zealand news website Stuff, the protestor who emptied a bottle of tomato juice over Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull head, was described by the reporter as “an internet sensation and the juice was a new symbol for trans rights.”

Stuff reported that the video of Davidson was shared by “far-right,” media, but overlooked the fact that the video was initially published on left-leaning blog site The Daily Blog.

The video has since been shared by most New Zealand mainstream media outlets.