'Aryan1' owner's white supremacy links

OK WITH HER: Lisa Marie Thompson does not see the problem with her plate.

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A woman who claims that her personalised licence plate "ARYAN1" is the initial and surname of a former boyfriend has links to white supremacist groups and is backed by the National Front.

Upper Hutt mother Lisa Marie Thompson – who has references to neo-Nazi white-power organisation Blood & Honour on a personal webpage – has denied being racist.

She said she had no idea what "Aryan" meant and the apparent nod to Adolf Hitler's "master" race actually referred to her former boyfriend – Andrew Ryan.

However, Ms Thompson, 32 – whose licence plate sparked a complaint to roading authorities – has links to white supremacist groups which appear active in Wellington.

The Facebook page of the body piercer, seamstress and mother of three includes "friends" posing before swastika flags and claiming allegiance to "white nationalist" skinhead groups such as Crew 38 and Hammerskin Nation.

The New Zealand National Front party threw its support behind Ms Thompson this week.

"I have known Miss Thompson for many years," Wellington area representative Vince Stephens said. "She is a hardworking solo mother holding down two jobs and looking after three girls."

Mr Stephens said publicity "of race hate over a number plate she was unaware had any racial connotations whatsoever" was unfair.

An Upper Hutt woman said she had trespassed Ms Thompson from her home and a former workplace because of concerns about her behaviour.

"Once she was yelling out, `You're a nigger – dirty abo.'

"She's always hassling me, at work, at home. I've called the police on her multiple times.

"She knows exactly what `Aryan' means. She's the most racist person I know."

A former boyfriend said Ms Thompson – who works part-time at an Upper Hutt tattoo parlour – was prejudiced against "everyone who's not really her kind".

Ms Thompson said this week her numerous tattoos had nothing to do with the licence plate, which she maintained related to another former boyfriend.

An offended motorist complained about the ARYAN1 plate on Ms Thompson's 1993 Ford Falcon to the Transport Agency.

But transport officials are refusing to have the plate withdrawn, saying it would breach Ms Thompson's rights, despite the obvious association with white supremacism.

A spokesman said NZTA found racism abhorrent but noted that Ryan was a common surname and that a similar personalised plate was in circulation now which incorporated an individual's surname.

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said that, in and of itself, the licence plate was unlikely to breach the Human Rights Act.

- © Fairfax NZ News