In a post late last year you may recall the announcement of the First International Conference on Men’s Issues, scheduled to take place 27-28 June 2014 in Detroit, Michigan.

It has been revealed by conference organisers, A Voice For Men (AVFM), that feminist groups are intent on disrupting the conference and the nature of the threats that have surfaced.

There is a good summary covering events to date on the website ‘A Voice For Male Students’, events having now escalated from a war of words on the internet to threats of violence and property damage should the conference go ahead.

Recent correspondance between AVFM and the conference venue show the nature of the proposed attacks

Regarding the International Conference on Men’s Issues scheduled at OUR hotel, the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Detroit Downtown – Fort Shelby, we have received numerous calls and threats and are concerned for the safety and well-being of our employees, our guests and your attendees.

The threats have escalated to include death threats, physical violence against our staff and other guests as well as damage to the property. The callers have indicated that they will be stationed within the hotel as guests, which raises our level of concern.

If nothing else there is certainly the intent to inflict maximum financial damage by raising the costs of security.

We take these threats seriously and for the protection of our staff and guests, Under Section 8 of the Agreement, we may require you to provide, at your expense and in our discretion, adequate security in light of the nature of your Event.

Based upon the nature of these threats, we have determined that adequate security measures include the engagement of the Detroit Police Department (DPD) to secure the building. Based upon the number of access and egress points we will require 2 Detroit Police officers in the lobby and 3 officers on the meeting room floor, each on a 24 hour basis. As the threats include accessing the guests floors another 3 officers on the guest floors on a 24 hour basis. This is a minimum of 7 officers at all times, 24 hours a day but could increase based on further threats or circumstances that warrant the addition of security.

Let’s hope the conference funding is substantial enough to withstand this disrutption by threats of violence and damage.

No doubt these people will want to come out of the shadows and exercise their right to peaceful protest on the day – can’t wait to see their banners.

Men’s conference raises security concerns – Detroit News

“We’re not surprised there’s resistance,” (Paul) Elam said. “We understand that a lot of our ideas are very new and take some time for people to comprehend. We expect backlash and resistance.”

“What we didn’t expect is the lives of innocent people who work at the hotel and guests who are unrelated to our activities would be threatened. … It’s a new low and it’s very disappointing.”