Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has been physically held back by police as she attempted to storm a lectern at a Let Women Speak rally.

A video on social media shows Senator Thorpe being held to the ground by police on the lawns of Parliament House before crawling away and returning to the counter-protest. 

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, led the protest speaking against allowing trans-women to enter female-only spaces.

Senator Thorpe branded her words as transphobic.

“I went to tell her, they are not welcome here,” she said after her altercation with police near the lectern.

“This government needs to answer why these people are allowed into this country,” she said of the British national.

Australian Federal Police said the “interactions between (police) and protesters will be reviewed”.

“An incident has been referred to the AFP’s Professional Standards Command,” it said in a statement.

Greens senator Janet Rice also joined the counter-protest, saying it easily outnumbered “bigots” and drowned out their chants.

The Let Women Speak rallies have been the subject of controversy after an event in Melbourne on the weekend drew men dressed in black who performed the Nazi salute. 

Ms Keen-Minshull has denied any links to Nazism, saying the group had tried to hijack her event.

The founder of the group Standing for Women received support inside the parliament, with Nationals senator Matt Canavan saying the actions of “a very small number of moronic fools in the Nazi Party” were silencing genuine concerns.

“It’s disgraceful that a bunch of men have apparently been able to silence the rights of women around this country … to have their say about not wanting biological males to enter into women’s spaces,” he said.

“I think that’s a very legitimate request from many women around the nation and they deserve to have their voice heard.”

Senator Canavan said he would have joined the protest if he hadn’t been preoccupied with parliament.

One Nation senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, as well as United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, joined the Let Women Speak protest.

The federal opposition is pushing to ban Nazi symbols by introducing legislation in parliament, with home affairs spokeswoman Karen Andrews describing Nazi insignia as “abhorrent”.

“For a long period of time, there have been discussions about whether or not such insignia, such salutes should be banned,” she said.

“The time has come for action and very definitive action to take place.”

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto is pushing to expel one of his MPs, Moira Deeming, after she attended the rally in Melbourne on the weekend.

Federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer said she supports the sacking of her state counterpart.

“I’m frankly disappointed to see anybody go to those protests to be honest,” she said.

“They’ve almost stopped pretending that it’s about women’s rights and they are openly saying that it is an anti-transgender protest.”

Labor MP Josh Burns called on Mr Dutton to sack any Liberal who attended the protests.

“I really hope the leader of the opposition upholds the same standard for his team that the Victorian Liberal leader does for the Victorian Liberal team,” he said.

By Dominic Giannini in Canberra