Police have appealed for the woman shown being attacked during Nigel Farage’s speech at the Reform conference to come forward after a video of the incident spread widely yesterday. Climate Resistance said it claimed responsibility for the protest, and the woman is now considering whether to speak to police.
The appeal leaves the case at an early stage. If she comes forward, police would be able to take her account of what happened during the speech, while the video already places the incident in the middle of the Reform conference.
Reform conference violence
Climate Resistance said it was “horrified at the violence” from Reform conference audience members while also claiming responsibility for the protest. That combination matters because it links the planned disruption to the later attack shown in the video, and it places the question of responsibility in the hands of the woman police are trying to contact.
Jeanette Bowden, a Reform member from Bexley, was among the attendees quoted at the conference. She said, “I enjoyed the heat this summer.” Her partner, James, said, “Carbon dioxide was much higher in the past, it was 10 times higher than this during the ice ages. It’s not a human problem.”
Richard Tice in Birmingham
On the second day of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham, Richard Tice addressed the audience. A banner reading “Collect £5m, burn the planet” appeared behind him within minutes of his speech, and it was taken down promptly.
Tice told reporters, “I’m sick of people disrupting life in this country.” He also said, “I hope the police take all the actions as necessary to get the port open as quickly as possible,” and, “It’s completely disgraceful that businesses and individuals are having their lives held up by those people.”
Port of Dover protest
Earlier today, Robert Jenrick was asked about protesters blocking traffic in and out of the Port of Dover. Footage showed a group there appearing largely to be men dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, and a group was later seen marching through the town chanting “whose streets? our streets!” and “stop the boats” as dozens of police officers followed.
Among the conference attendees, Yvonne said, “It’s overhyped,” and added, “The government were all on their holidays in the summer, not doing their jobs [to help people during the heatwaves]. Government should ensure there is clean water and sewage, but they’re not even doing that.” Jim Langford said, “They told us Norwich would be underwater by now and it’s not Atlantis yet.” Ed Rennie said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had reduced some of its higher predictions.
The immediate next step is simple: police need the woman in the video to make contact so they can deal with the assault that happened in public view. Until that happens, the most important part of the case remains the same video and the same unanswered police appeal.
