Protesters hurl abuse... and an egg
A CONSERVATIVE delegate was struck in the face by an egg while journalists were spat at as 60,000 demonstrators held a rally outside the conference venue yesterday.
Marchers shouted ‘Tory scum!’ as a young man in a dark suit and with a conference pass around his neck brandished a copy of a Sunday newspaper bearing Margaret Thatcher’s picture before he was hit by the egg.
Owen Bennett, a reporter from the Huffington Post website, said he had been spat at after he and other journalists were apparently mistaken for delegates. Police arrested his attacker. Channel 4’s Michael Crick and LBC’s Theo Usherwood were also spat at.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had to be hurried into the conference venue by his police escort after he too was spotted by protesters.
However, the bulk of the demonstration – which featured speakers includ-
Demonstrators shouted ‘Tory scum’
ing singer Charlotte Church – passed off peacefully as marchers protested about issues ranging from austerity policies to rights for migrants.
The protesters included a group from the Radical Independence Campaign. The pro-independence organisation, which took part in rallies alongside SNP figures in the run-up to last year’s referendum, organised a bus from Glasgow’s George Square. Members of the group include figurehead Cat Boyd, who has spoken at events with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
In advance of the protest, Tory chiefs had urged delegates not to wear suits or conference passes outside the venue for fear of making themselves targets.
But phone footage showed the young party member watching the march go past from the edge of the ‘ring of steel’ security zone. Protesters quickly gathered with some shouting ‘Tory scum’, at which he appeared to wave a copy of The Sunday Telegraph bearing Baroness Thatcher’s photograph. Moments later he was hit by the egg.