The founder of a "neomasculinist" group which advocates the legalisation of rape is considering adding Canberra to Saturday's scheduled "tribal meetings", saying there is an "unmet need" in the Australian capital.
Men's advocacy group Return of Kings will hold supporters meetings this weekend, when Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh, who founded the controversial group, is due to land in Canberra, according to an Australian itinerary he posted on social media.
However, there is speculation he will be banned from entering the country, following fierce criticism of the group's homophobic and anti-feminist views.
Mr Valizadeh booked plane tickets to Australia in response to outcry over the group's plans to host face-to-face "tribal meetings" in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane on Saturday.
According to a screen shot he posted from his Twitter account on Monday, Mr Valizadeh would fly into Canberra via Sydney.
His itinerary indicates he could stay in the city until next Thursday, when he is booked to fly onto Melbourne, before flying back to Sioux Falls via Los Angeles and Dallas.
Despite being a focal point on the itinerary, Canberra was not on the list of 165 meet-ups said to be occurring in more than 40 countries.
Mr Valizadeh told Fairfax Media any gathering in Canberra would be more private due to the "exposure" the other Australian meetings had attracted.
"I have to add it to the final list. I already got guys covering other Australian cities so I figured that Canberra was an unmet need," he said via email.
An online petition to stop Valizadeh's supporters meeting in Australia had attracted more than 35,000 signatures by 11am on Tuesday and calls for Immigration minister Peter Dutton to block him from entering the country.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has requested urgent advice from his department over Mr Valizadeh's plans to visit this week.
In response to the outrage, Mr Valizadeh tweeted he was "packing [his] baton and baton spray".
"There's more media outrage against a male happy hour than when European women got molested and raped in Cologne. What an appalling sham," he tweeted.
"I'll just take a private boat to Darwin from Indonesia or East Timor. I'll find a way to enter. I won't be stopped."
Articles written by Mr Valizadeh and Return of Kings' contributors express views that women should not be able to vote, that rape on private property should be legalised, that transgender women who sleep with heterosexual men are rapists and that women are biologically determined to follow the orders of men.
The announcement of his upcoming trip on Twitter evoked a strong response in Canberra.
"You'll LOVE Canberra. Its full of progressive women AND has an excellent LGBTIQ scene. Just your thing," Jill Thomsen, ACT Greens support candidate for Kurrajong tweeted.
"Not sheriff serious, but I'd spend the least amount of time in Canberra," another Twitter user, Infestation Mine, wrote.
