NIGEL Farage has said Essex Police were wrong to give counter-protesters in Epping what he described as “the red-carpet treatment”.
Speaking to GB News, Farage said: “The events at The Bell Hotel in Epping over the weekend became a very major national news story.
“It is the usual stuff, of course; it’s those vile, awful, horrid, far right protesters. How dare they be upset that a 14-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by somebody who crossed the English Channel by boat and was staying in that hotel?
“It led to local groups, predominantly females, predominantly mums worried about kids, protesting. And yes, it’s true – of course, a few far right thugs turned up.
“I thought it was absolutely astonishing that the police should have bussed a group called Stand Up to Racism, who had within them, Antifa, who we know to be an openly violent organisation. What were they doing? Bussing them from the station to The Bell Hotel?
“I got a phone call back from a police officer who was in charge of the situation that night to say I was wrong. They didn’t bus them to the protest; they walked them to the protest and they bussed them back later. So if I was slightly out on accuracy, I apologise, but I think the gist of what I was saying was right.
“Did it make any sense to escort those people to a protest? Because as soon as they arrived, that’s when the trouble and the violence started.
“There is clearly a debate around: did the police actually cause the violence? Could they have said, ‘don’t go’ or would that have been countering people’s rights?
“What I also asked the senior police officer was, why did you allow people to wear masks? Surely anybody that turns up for a protest wearing a mask from either side of any argument, is not going with the best of intentions.
“The answer I got was ‘they didn’t have the right operational order’ to tell people not to wear masks.
“From what I can see of it, these counter-protesters, Antifa among them, some with masks on, were given the red-carpet treatment to and from The Bell Hotel and I’m pretty blooming angry about it.
“[There is a] big row between me and the Essex police, but it opens up a big debate about how do we police. Is it any wonder the perception that we’re living in a two-tier country where different groups are policed differently is spreading in our country?”
