Warlord
05-17-2013, 06:28 AM
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has described protesters who besieged him in an Edinburgh pub as "fascist scum".
Mr Farage had to be escorted from the Canons' Gait pub in a police van after angry confrontations on Thursday.
He told BBC Scotland the incident was deeply racist and displayed a total hatred of the English.
Mr Farage called on Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond to condemn the behaviour. The SNP said the UKIP leader had "lost the plot".
Mr Farage was in Edinburgh to launch his party's Scottish campaign following recent electoral gains in England.
Police said two men had been arrested following the protest.
Speaking to the Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Farage said: "If this is the face of Scottish nationalism, it's a pretty ugly picture."
He added: "The anger, the hatred, the shouting, the snarling, the swearing was all linked in to a desire for the Union Jack to be burnt."
The UKIP leader said the demonstrators did not represent Scotland and dismissed suggestions his party was an irrelevance north of the border.
"The fact that 50 yobbo fascist scum turn up and aren't prepared to listen to the debate, I absolutely refuse to believe is representative of Scottish public opinion," Mr Farage said.
He said he had heard before that some parts of Scottish nationalism were "akin to fascism" but "yesterday I saw it face-to-face".
Mr Farage also told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the protesters were "filled with a total and utter hatred of the English".
Nigel Farage: "From the start, all the way though that interview, it was insulting"
"For some reason the British media has never talked about the excesses of Scottish nationalism and how deeply unpleasant they can be," he said.
Mr Farage did not suggest this was anything to do with the SNP as a party.
But he added: "These people were supporters of Scottish nationalism, virulently opposed to the English, all sorts of suggestions as to what we could do with the Union Jack and I would like to hear Alex Salmond come out and condemn this sort of behaviour. I challenge him today to do that."
He said: "If anybody from UKIP says anything on Facebook that is in any way homophobic or mildly racist you guys jump down my throat and demand I condemn them and expel them from the party, which of course I do. It is about time Scottish nationalism was put under the same level of scrutiny."
An SNP spokesman said: "Anyone who heard the interview with Nigel Farage on BBC this morning would have thought he has completely lost the plot.
"He accused the BBC of hatred when under pressure and panicked during an interview. Nothing he says can be treated with a shred of credibility and his partners in the No campaign should be embarrassed about his behaviour."
A spokesman for the Radical Independence Campaign, who helped organise the demonstration in Edinburgh, said there had been "no anti-English protest".
He added: "For Farage to make such a claim is risible: it is UKIP who are stoking division.
"This was about challenging someone whose party has been spouting racist, sexist and homophobic bile and gone unchallenged for months.
"Everyone who opposes the politics of fear and division should unite against UKIP - whether you live in Scotland or England."
John Martin, president of the Edinburgh College Students' Association, which also took part in the protest, said: "We organised yesterday's protest against Farage out of a belief that UKIP's policies are fundamentally rotten.
"Their headline five-year immigration freeze is not only completely disconnected from reality, but is a policy that neither the people of Scotland nor the rest of the United Kingdom would stomach.
"His regressive and repugnant ideology is not far removed from that of the BNP - just dressed in a better-fitting suit."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22566183
Mr Farage had to be escorted from the Canons' Gait pub in a police van after angry confrontations on Thursday.
He told BBC Scotland the incident was deeply racist and displayed a total hatred of the English.
Mr Farage called on Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond to condemn the behaviour. The SNP said the UKIP leader had "lost the plot".
Mr Farage was in Edinburgh to launch his party's Scottish campaign following recent electoral gains in England.
Police said two men had been arrested following the protest.
Speaking to the Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Farage said: "If this is the face of Scottish nationalism, it's a pretty ugly picture."
He added: "The anger, the hatred, the shouting, the snarling, the swearing was all linked in to a desire for the Union Jack to be burnt."
The UKIP leader said the demonstrators did not represent Scotland and dismissed suggestions his party was an irrelevance north of the border.
"The fact that 50 yobbo fascist scum turn up and aren't prepared to listen to the debate, I absolutely refuse to believe is representative of Scottish public opinion," Mr Farage said.
He said he had heard before that some parts of Scottish nationalism were "akin to fascism" but "yesterday I saw it face-to-face".
Mr Farage also told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the protesters were "filled with a total and utter hatred of the English".
Nigel Farage: "From the start, all the way though that interview, it was insulting"
"For some reason the British media has never talked about the excesses of Scottish nationalism and how deeply unpleasant they can be," he said.
Mr Farage did not suggest this was anything to do with the SNP as a party.
But he added: "These people were supporters of Scottish nationalism, virulently opposed to the English, all sorts of suggestions as to what we could do with the Union Jack and I would like to hear Alex Salmond come out and condemn this sort of behaviour. I challenge him today to do that."
He said: "If anybody from UKIP says anything on Facebook that is in any way homophobic or mildly racist you guys jump down my throat and demand I condemn them and expel them from the party, which of course I do. It is about time Scottish nationalism was put under the same level of scrutiny."
An SNP spokesman said: "Anyone who heard the interview with Nigel Farage on BBC this morning would have thought he has completely lost the plot.
"He accused the BBC of hatred when under pressure and panicked during an interview. Nothing he says can be treated with a shred of credibility and his partners in the No campaign should be embarrassed about his behaviour."
A spokesman for the Radical Independence Campaign, who helped organise the demonstration in Edinburgh, said there had been "no anti-English protest".
He added: "For Farage to make such a claim is risible: it is UKIP who are stoking division.
"This was about challenging someone whose party has been spouting racist, sexist and homophobic bile and gone unchallenged for months.
"Everyone who opposes the politics of fear and division should unite against UKIP - whether you live in Scotland or England."
John Martin, president of the Edinburgh College Students' Association, which also took part in the protest, said: "We organised yesterday's protest against Farage out of a belief that UKIP's policies are fundamentally rotten.
"Their headline five-year immigration freeze is not only completely disconnected from reality, but is a policy that neither the people of Scotland nor the rest of the United Kingdom would stomach.
"His regressive and repugnant ideology is not far removed from that of the BNP - just dressed in a better-fitting suit."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22566183