Scottish Labour Party leader Jim Murphy and comedian Eddie Izzard were forced to flee Glasgow after being confronted by ‘violent’ protesters during a turbulent election rally.
Murphy and Izzard attempted to address Labour supporters in Glasgow on Monday and soon found themselves heckled by a group of anti-Labour nationalists chanting “Red Tories out.”
Izzard is a Labour supporter who teamed up with the party’s Scottish leader, Murphy, to tell voters to back Labour in order to keep the Tories out.
When they both reached the rally to speak, they were cut off by protestors who used megaphones and loud music from sound systems to drown out their speeches.
Trying - and failing to be heard - drowned out by the free speech deniers pic.twitter.com/uU11XnmeBQ
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 4, 2015
The neck veins say it all about the strain of trying to be heard pic.twitter.com/SNbqLWX5dD
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 4, 2015
Tensions began to rise when the protestors, who were allegedly waving Scottish National Party (SNP) leaflets began yelling abuse and chanting Murphy is a “warmonger” and a “traitor.”
Ugly face of nationalism RT Jim Murphy forced to flee Glasgow asSNP supporters spark violence http://t.co/YbMZOMXsL5pic.twitter.com/P9K6ifXAnf”
— Bernard Collier (@Bernard_Collier) May 4, 2015
The “aggressive” chants came shortly after nationalists shoved a cardboard banner in Murphy’s face.
Scuffles broke out in the crowd between activists and party members, and a six-year-old girl was carried out in tears.
Many others in the crowd, including an STV reporter, were pushed to the ground in the ensuing confusion.
Minor scuffles - interviews abandoned as JM/EI make it to car and leave pic.twitter.com/HwSzxH5Yui
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 4, 2015
The scuffles left Murphy and Izzard with no choice but to flee the scene and abandon their planned interviews with the media.
Today's protesters call themselves "socialists" and "nationalists" when I asked them
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 4, 2015
Protest organizer Sean Clekin described the protesters as “anti-austerity campaigners.”
He told BBC news the event details had been passed to him by a dissatisfied Labour Party supporter.
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 4, 2015
Political tension is running high in Scotland in the run up to Thursday’s election, as resent polls indicate the SNP will beat Labour in every Scottish constituency.
Shortly after the rally, the SNP tweeted that every political party has the right to be “heard respectably.”
Disappointing. No fan of Jim Murphy or Scottish #Labour but there's a better way. http://t.co/i0v3QGbyNe#GE2015pic.twitter.com/1kv8Z19GPJ
— Stuart Pyper (@astuartpyper) May 4, 2015
Murphy, who was “disgusted” by what happened, told STV news “this sort of aggressive nationalism” should have no place in the election.
“We have a few days until we can kick David Cameron out of office, a few days to change the country forever,” he added
Murphy told CNN he “won’t be silenced” by this form of “aggressive” nationalism, adding it is “anti-democratic.”
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“This isn’t the type of Scotland we want. Scotland, the Labour Party and the people of Scotland are much better than this sort of aggressive nationalism,” he added.
He said he will continue campaigning for a change of government, adding “we will carry on campaigning to get rid of David Cameron every moment between now and Thursday.”
Commenting on the rally, Izzard said: “It’s OK having different opinions, but everyone should be able to put their opinion forward.”
“This aggressive, this violent emotion, why violence?” he said.
“Don’t have violence, we should just put our point of view forward and then everyone makes their choice on Thursday.
“This is democracy, it’s all about voting. They should let the democratic process happen, it’s called democracy,” he added.
The SNP denied any involvement in the protest, despite SNP members handing out leaflets at the event. According to CNN, they were not involved in the fracas.
Protesters told me they are not SNP members but "people of Glasgow" and "working class activists"
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 4, 2015
The SNP have finally suspended Piers Doughty-Brown from the party after his nonsense at Labour's rally in Glasgow yesterday. #GE2015
— David Clegg (@davieclegg) May 5, 2015
Jim Murphy said "we will deal with co-operation with the SNP after the election ". Clarified to repeat no deals line.
— alex thomson (@alextomo) May 5, 2015
An SNP spokesman said “every party in this campaign has a right to put their case to the people and should be heard respectfully.”