A chilling new video has emerged alongside allegations that UK police are attempting to stop ‘Leave’ campaigners from soliciting support on high streets just days ahead of Britain’s referendum on European Union membership.
The clips – from Caerphilly in South Wales – show a number of uniformed police officers and community support officers approaching Leave campaigners at ‘Grassroots Out’ and ‘Vote Leave’ stalls.
Local campaigner Sam Gould took the opportunity to film the incident, as well as taking to social media after to warn people of the “establishment” seeking to impact the Leave campaign.
The video, complete with ominous music, shows police attempting to move Leave campaigners from their two sites in Caerphilly, while ostensibly leaving the ‘Stronger In’ or ‘Remain’ campaigners to their own devices.
In the video, Mr. Gould blames the influence of local Member of Parliament Wayne David (Labour), as well as the Police and Crime Commissioner who have both been campaigning for the Remain camp during Britain’s EU referendum period.
He says: “Moments ago Wayne David MP walked past with his [Remain] team. Shortly after, a council worker was sent down to tell us to move on because we were illegally obstructing the highway. We’re been here for weeks… now because we are winning they are now trying to intimidate us.
“We said if they want to move us on they need to get the police down here to try and move us. This is the democratic process which is trying to be stifled by the establishment”.
Further into the video Mr. Gould makes the stunning claim that the most senior, though elected police representative in the area, the Police and Crime Commissioner, has been campaign for the Remain side.
“Our other stand elsewhere has also been asked to move on. Very interesting that our Police and Crime Commissioner has been campaigning for Remain… as you can see Stronger In are over there, they’ve not been asked to move on. We are over here and we have the police here… who are asking us to move on… is that freedom of speech?”
Neither Caerphilly Police nor Mr. David MP were available for comment at the time of publication, though they have been contacted. This article will be updated as more information emerges.
If you have any incidents surrounding the referendum to report, contact Raheem Kassam at this page.