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Nigel Farage has been hit with a milkshake while campaigning in Newcastle and the internet has thoughts

Nigel Farage has been hit with a milkshake while campaigning in Newcastle and the internet has thoughts

Nigel Farage has become the latest political candidate to have a milkshake thrown at him.

The Brexit Party leader was hit while campaigning in Newcastle city centre for the European parliament elections.

Farage was reportedly furious after being hit, telling his security “it’s a failure” and asking “how did that happen?”

The “milkshaking” follows repeated drenchings of UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.

The blow to Farage shows how some voters connect him to those candidates, who have been called far right.

Farage even commented on the incident, claiming that Remainers have become "radicalised".

And people obviously had a lot of thoughts about the latest ambush.

Seriously, there were so many...

However, some condemned the action, such as Brexit Party candidates Martin Daubney and Jonathan Arnott.

And conservative academic Adrian Hilton.

While other commentators made the point that praising people for throwing milkshakes at politicians like Farage makes it harder to criticise political violence against others.

The craze for embarrassing right-wing politicians is so widespread that police asked a McDonald’s restaurant in Edinburgh to stop selling milkshakes when Farage visited for a campaign rally last week.

People have also tried to work out why the milkshake has become such a popular symbol of protest.

Dr Ivan Gololobov, who studies radical youth subcultures and anti-politics, told the New Statesman:

Street action itself is worth almost nothing if it does not have an online follow-up. Milkshake on a figure who pretends to be serious and well-established has become an incredibly powerful image destroying the platform of seriousness for the likes of Robinson and Benjamin…

It makes them look foolish, undermining their self-image of power and control. The bathos of the great leader brought low by a drink associated with children is highly effective.

More: Nigel Farage was asked what 'Brexit can offer Wales' and his answer said it all

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