The investigation into an alleged assault on a Parliamentary candidate at the weekend has yielded no arrests days later, police have told Breitbart London.
Steve Rubidge, the Parliamentary Candidate for Reform UK was assaulted while campaigning in Falmouth, Cornwall, on Saturday his party said in a statement seen by Breitbart London. A spokesman for the party told Breitbart that 51-year-old Rubidge was lured away and then attacked by a group of men at a town music festival, that the group called him a “fascist” and swore, and tried to steal his bag containing leaflets, keys, and his phone.
Rudibge said he was “punched and kicked multiple times” and at hospital was told he’d suffered bruising and “severely torn ligaments”.
Reform UK said pictures were taken of the assailants by members of the public who stepped into help, and that the incident was reported to police immediately on Saturday.
Devon and Cornwall Police, whose beat covers the Truro and Falmouth constituency where Rubidge is standing for election in the forthcoming July General Election acknowledged they had been notified of an assault at Grove Place, Falmouth on Saturday and that “enquiries are ongoing”. The force conceded that by Tuesday morning, three days after the alleged assault, no arrests had taken place but nevertheless “the incident is being investigated promptly”.
Reform UK said in response to the Falmouth assault that: “These kinds of attempts to stop free speech and democracy should never be tolerated in any decent society… Reform UK will pursue the perpetrators to the full extent of the law on behalf of all decent, freedom loving people in this country”.
Political violence is an emerging issue in the United Kingdom. Two Members of Parliament have been killed in the past decade, and others report feeling seriously threatened, or have come under attack in recent years. During this election cycle, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been attacked twice by activists who disagree with his politics. In both cases those attacks led to arrests.