Farage blasts 'fascist scum'

UKIP leader Nigel Farage returned to England today saying he would not be intimidated by the anger his visit to Scotland prompted.

He called the nationalist protesters who jostled him in Edinburgh yesterday "fascist scum" and hung up on a Scottish radio interview. The SNP say he's "lost the plot".

Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen reports:

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has spoken to ITV News about his altercation with angry protesters during a visit to Edinburgh yesterday.

Mr Farage describes those who heckled him as "a pretty angry mob" who were "absolutely vicious, racist and nasty about England and me."

Read: Police escort Nigel Farage into riot van after pub protest

First Minister Alex Salmond said: "If you have someone who actually said this morning in an interview - accused a BBC interviewer of showing the same, as he put it, hate towards him as people in Edinburgh yesterday, then you're dealing with someone who is outwith the context of normal politics.

"So, yes, we'll have our political debate and discourse in a proper way in Scotland. We can frankly do without UKIP, who dislike everybody and know absolutely nothing about Scotland."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme:

UKIP leader Nigel Farage described protesters who mobbed him in an Edinburgh pub as "fascist scum"

Staff were forced to clear the Canons' Gait pub on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, where Mr Farage was due to hold a press conference near the Scottish Parliament, after it was filled with the chanting protesters.

The UKIP leader attempted to make an escape by taxi but protesters blocked its path and Mr Farage was forced to return to the pub, where police barricaded the doors against protesters until officers in a riot van came to his aid.

Two men were arrested after the protest and Mr Farage was escorted from the scene "to ensure his safety", Police Scotland said.

Mr Farage was in Edinburgh to promote his candidate Otto Inglis in the Aberdeen Donside by-election, but the pub was soon filled by dozens of protesters shouting "racist Nazi scum".

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland: "The fact that 50 yobbo, fascist scum turn up and aren't prepared to listen to debate I absolutely refuse to believe is representative of Scottish public opinion. It is not."

Listen to the full interview here.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has hung up the telephone during a radio interview with BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland, according to reports.

Two people have been arrested after protesters demonstrated against the UKIP leader Nigel Farage at a pub in Edinburgh.

Police Scotland would not comment on what they had been arrested for.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage was escorted from an Edinburgh pub in a police riot van after being mobbed by rowdy protesters.

Mr Farage arranged a press conference in the Canons' Gait pub on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, near the Scottish Parliament, to promote his candidate Otto Inglis in the Aberdeen Donside by-election.

ITV News Political Correspondent Libby Weiner reports:

Read more: Police escort Nigel Farage into riot van after pub protest

UKIP leader Nigel Farage was escorted from an Edinburgh pub in a police riot van after being mobbed by rowdy protesters.

Read the full story here.