Jim Murphy slams “aggressive nationalism” after cutting short campaign event

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy had to cut short a open air campaign event in Glasgow today after it was disrupted by nationalist protesters. Murphy and Izzard were addressing supporters on Buchanan Street, where protesters attempted to drown them out with loudhailers playing music and chanting “red Tories out” and playing music. Reports say the two men were “jostled” as they tried to leave, and BBC News says “scuffles” broke out.

An indoor Labour rally in Glasgow on Friday saw similar protests, with supporters filmed and branded “scum” as they entered.

Murphy was rounding off a 24-hour campaigning stretch, which involved a leaders debate last night, followed by a night-shift visit to a supermarket distribution centre and a food bank this morning.

The Scottish Labour leader said that that “no one political party” could lay claim to the streets of Scotland, following online defences of the protest saying Labour were at fault for organising an event in a city that had voted Yes last year.

Murphy said:

“I am all in favour of listening to the arguments of my political opponents but these people are not prepared to engage in debate.

“This sort of aggressive sentiment has come to the fore over the past two years. Surely we don’t want to go back to the old divisions of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ from last year.

“Scotland’s streets and Scotland’s flag belong to no one political party. We’ve just spent the past two years debating the referendum and we had a democratic vote and a democratic result.

“Today’s protest was clearly organised and clearly an attempt to make sure the Labour case was not heard on the streets of Glasgow. But we will not be deterred and will take our case to all corners of Scotland as the only way to get a better fairer Scotland is to vote Labour on Thursday.”

You can watch some of the altercation here: