Inflamed passions heating up the UK election campaign in Scotland turned nasty Monday, as fringe nationalist protestors jostled and jeered Scottish Labour Party leader Jim Murphy at a rally in Glasgow’s city center.
Hecklers tried to stop Murphy from reaching a stage where he was to address Labour supporters alongside comedian Eddie Izzard, and a huge shoving match broke out.
Murphy had a cardboard banner shoved in his face as he plowed into the crowd amid shouts of “Red Tories out” — a reference to nationalist claims the Labour Party, which opposes independence, is not much different than the Conservatives who are mostly reviled in Scotland.
Murphy finally made it to the stage, but most of his speech was drowned out by loud music, the shouts of a man on a loud hailer and nationalist supporters, prompting the Scottish Labour leader, who appeared to be relishing the confrontation, to start a chant of “Tories out, Tories out.”
Murphy told CNN that he wouldn’t be silenced : “We will keep campaigning for a change of government. We will keep campaigning to get rid of David Cameron every moment between now and Thursday.”
Izzard, who was dressed in a dark skirt and high heels, said it was “sad that the Scottish National Party will not let democratic voices be heard, they just want to drown things out.”
But the SNP denied it had a hand in the protest and although there were some SNP members handing out campaign literature at the event, none of them appeared to be involved in the fracas.
An SNP spokesman said that “every party in this campaign has a right to put their case to the people and should be heard respectfully.”
Organizers may have expected hostile scenes, as reporters were only told a few hours before the start of the event where Murphy planned to appear, and a temporary stage was erected only minutes before his arrival.
Passions are running high ahead of Thursday’s general election because the SNP is tipped by polls to almost wipe out Labour in its long-time working class heartland north of the England/Scotland border, despite losing a referendum on independence last year.
The SNP surge will have a significant impact on British politics. It could either hand SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon the power to prop up a Labour minority government in London with votes on specific pieces of legislation.
Or she could make the case in the event of a Conservative government that Scots are again being ruled by a party they have repeatedly rejected, strengthening the case for another vote on independence in the years to come.