UKIP leader, Nigel Farage was forced to abandon a public appearance in Rotherham as he was cornered in the town’s UKIP office for two hours as protestors surrounded the building.
Local Labour MP Sarah Champion accused Farage of coming to Rotherham to “score a point.”
“It’s like some kind of voyeuristic tourism,” she said.
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“People in Rotherham [are] saying ‘this [is] absolutely disgusting, we don’t want you coming and trying to get elected off the back of the abuse that’s been going on in this town.’”
RT reports: Police told him not to leave the office, which he was due to officially open, because a crowd of 40 demonstrators were gathered on a narrow pavement outside.
The UKIP leader ended up being escorted from the office by police, who held a large red umbrella over his head for protection.
Protestors in the South Yorkshire town, which was the site of a widespread child sex abuse scandal, carried placards which read: “No to racism, no to bigotry, hands off Rotherham.”
Farage blamed the protest on trade unions, accusing them of funding “undemocratic and anti-British” demonstrations against his party.
Local Labour MP Sarah Champion accused him of trying to capitalize on the abuse scandal ahead of the general election in May.
Protestors included a mother who breast-fed her child in an apparent dig at Farage’s suggestion that women should “sit in the corner” when breastfeeding, because it makes some people “uncomfortable.”
Demonstrator Alistair Tice, of the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC), said the protest was organised quickly in response to Farage’s visit.
