Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg was hounded by student protesters waving communist and Palestinian flags after giving a speech at Cardiff University on Friday evening.
The protest was organised by socialist Welsh Underground Network and societies including Cardiff Communists, Socialist Students, Lecturers Against Genocide, and Cardiff Geen Soc.
MPs criticised the protesters, saying their behaviour was “unacceptable” and “shrill intimidatory idiocy.”
Sir Jacob was invited to Cardiff University by the college’s Conservative and Unionist Association.
Following the event, he was filmed being bundled into a security vehicle, as one protester draped himself over the car’s bonnet before being pulled away by guards.
Protesters were filmed waving placards, a Palestinian flag, and two Revolutionary Communist Party flags.
They were also shouting with megaphones and drumming. One protester could be heard shouting “Tory [expletive].”
Ahead of the event, Cardiff Communists shared a poster on Instagram, calling on students to “unite against imperialist politicians” on campus.
Welsh Underground Network said it demands that “no politicians be allowed to speak on campus for the wellbeing of all students and faculty” in a poster shared on X, formerly Twitter.
After the incident, the group wrote that protesters had “managed to block the doors, shutting them inside for several houes [sic],” and doubled down on their hostility against Sir Jacob.
“Mogg left under a barrage of our anger, anger at his zionism, anger at his cruelty to the working class, anger at his very existence,” the X post reads.
The group added, “No zionist politician should be able to walk our streets in peace, they shouldn’t be able to open their mouths without being shouted down.”
Commenting on the protest, Sir Jacob said, “It was a legitimate and peaceful if noisy protest.
“The Cardiff University security team was exemplary in allowing a lawful protest while keeping everyone safe.
“Universities ought to be bastions of free speech and as both the protesters and I were able to give our views without fear or intimidation the proper traditions of adversarial debate were upheld.”
Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden posted on X that he’s sure Sir Jacob “will have taken it in his stride but no elected politician should have to put up with this shrill intimidatory idiocy.”
Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, said she’s “concerned by footage of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s treatment by protesters in Cardiff.
“I disagree with him on almost everything, but we cannot accept a culture of intimidation in our politics,” she said.
“The right to lawful protest is sacrosanct, but harassment and intimidation is unacceptable.”
The incident came after the Office for Students published draft free speech guidance for universities on what they should and should not do.
Gearing up for its new power to police free speech on campus, the OfS has warned universities against cancelling speaking events, and said they should resist pressure to fire or penalise staff or students over their speech and provide timely support to them.
According to the Cambridge Independent, The new Revolutionary Communist Party was launched across the UK on April 6.
The Leninist party also said on Thursday that it’s “organising on campuses across the country” to “kick capitalism out of education.”
