A man who threw a milkshake at Nigel Farage during a city centre walkabout is due to appear in court facing charges of common assault and criminal damage.
The politician’s suit was left covered with the banana and salted caramel Five Guys drink during an event in Newcastle ahead of last month’s European elections.
Paul Crowther, who was arrested at the scene after being filmed dousing Mr Farage with the milkshake, told journalists the act was “a right of protest against people like him”.
READ MORE: Video - Nigel Farage hit by milkshake during campaign walkabout
The empty milkshake cup, which is believed to have been emptied on Mr Farage (Tom Wilkinson/PA)
He said: “The bile and the racism he spouts out in this country is far more damaging than a bit of milkshake to his front.”
The 32-year-old, of Holeyn Road, Throckley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was charged by Northumbria Police with common assault and criminal damage.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage labels No 10 ‘petty’ for allegedly banning him from meeting Trump
The criminal damage charge relates to a microphone which was damaged during the incident on May 20, the force said.
Sadly some remainers have become radicalised, to the extent that normal campaigning is becoming impossible.
For a civilised democracy to work you need the losers consent, politicians not accepting the referendum result have led us to this.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 20, 2019
Crowther is due to appear at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Mr Farage was heard telling a member of security staff that he “could have spotted that a mile off”.
READ MORE: Jo Brand apologises for ‘crass and ill-judged’ acid joke
Later that day, the Brexit Party leader said: “I won’t even acknowledge the low-grade behaviour that I was subjected to this morning, I won’t dignify it, I will ignore it.
“Perhaps keep buying new clothes and carry on.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article