The ugly side of Remain: Masked protesters force Farage to cancel speech over safety fears
NIGEL Farage was forced to cancel a keynote speech over “safety fears” yesterday after masked protesters supporting the Remain camp invaded a market square and stopped him addressing the public.
Remain protestors forced Nigel Farage to cancel a speech today
The Ukip leader had to divert his battle bus from Northampton city centre after hooded pro-Brussels activists flooded the area where he was due to speak.
Mr Farage said the “undemocratic” Remain activists, some with their faces covered, wanted to “drown out debate” as they held up obscene placards and chanted loudly.
And he pledged to carry on campaigning for Britain to leave the EU, insisting those who want to use intimidatory tactics to scare people into backing Brussels will not win.
The prominent Eurosceptic was forced to cancel the planned speech at the last minute after Ukip officials realised they could not guarantee his safety, or that of the sizeable crowd of locals who had gathered to hear him speak.
The masked activists flooded Northampton's market square
Police had to attend as the situation heated up
Have been busy spreading the pro-Brexit message here in Northamptonshire. #BrexitBusTour pic.twitter.com/QJcq7P4Y3S
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 31, 2016
Ukip MEP Roger Helmer, who represents the East Midlands constituency which Northampton sits in, tweeted that the protesters had been carrying eggs that they planned to hurl at his party leader.
He raged: “How come people who call themselves ‘Hope not Hate’ adopt aggressive Fascist tactics, and oppose free speech?”
Around 40 far-left activists gathered in the city’s Market Square yesterday carrying obscene anti-Ukip banners, one of which read “f*** off Nigel”.
They chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees welcome here” and had to be separated from the main crowd by police as they waited for the Ukip leader to arrive.
The crowd then cheered loudly when a policeman announced that he would no longer be attending.
For a group of people to turn up with the intention of drowning out a debate is frankly anti-democratic and wrong
Instead his purple battle bus, which is travelling the length and breadth of the UK making the case for Brexit, had to be diverted to a local pub where he conducted media interviews, with the speech being cancelled.
Afterwards Mr Farage said: “I do feel bad frankly. I’ve been going round the country doing this for two decades.
“It’s all well and good to disagree with people but are you going to do it in a sensible democratic manner?
“This is our chance to have a national debate.
“For a group of people to turn up with the intention of drowning out a debate is frankly anti-democratic and wrong.
“If we turn up as we did this morning into a busy market place at random, as we did in Birmingham this morning, you will not get that sort of behaviour.”
The activists marched through the town holding obscene banners
A sizeable crowd had gathered to welcome the UKIP leader
How come people who call themselves "Hope not Hate" adopt aggressive Fascist tactics, and oppose free speech?
— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) May 31, 2016
Northampton: "Hope not Hate" activists reportedly left with a good supply of eggs. Maybe they'll make an omelette.
— Roger Helmer (@RogerHelmerMEP) May 31, 2016
Asked if he felt he could have reasoned with the Remain protestors, he replied: ”Probably not. They weren't the kind of people you can engage with."
One of those who had gathered to hear the Ukip leader speak later blasted the protesters for denying the public of their democratic rights.
David Paul told the Northampton Chronicle: “We wanted to see Nigel Farage. We were disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to come to the Market Square. He’s entitled to be there.”