A UKIP councillor has been cautioned for minor assault following an altercation with a campaigner in Great Yarmouth on Saturday morning.
Members of the campaigning group Hope Not Hate had hired out Drill Hall to distribute anti-UKIP leaflets to volunteers in the local area.
David Braniff-Herbert, 30, an organiser for the anti-racism group, told BuzzFeed News that he was in the centre at around 11am when a volunteer informed him that two people were outside taking photos.
"They're in a car – two UKIP councillors," the volunteer told him. "They're taking pictures of the people as they're leaving with the leaflets." This was, he said, an intimidation tactic usually employed by far-right parties. Braniff-Herbert said he then asked the people in the car to stop, but they did not do so, so he responded by taking pictures of the car and the people in it.
On the left are the people who were allegedly taking the photos. And on the right are some of the Hope Not Hate volunteers.
Braniff-Herbert told BuzzFeed News that a member of his group then informed him that a UKIP councillor had entered the hall, prompting the 30-year-old to re-enter the hall and challenge the man.
"I said, 'I think you should leave,'" said Braniff-Herbert. "And he said, 'Well what are you doing?' and I said, 'Well, we're campaigning against UKIP, so it's not worth you being here.'" Braniff-Herbert claimed the conversation became increasingly hostile.
The confrontation was filmed by Braniff-Herbert and another campaigner on their mobile phones.
The video footage shows an elderly man in sunglasses, believed to be Great Yarmouth councillor Tom Andrews, accusing the group of doing damage to UKIP campaign boards.
"Why are you coming here to intimidate us?" asks Braniff-Herbert in the video.
"I'm intimidating four guys?" replies Andrews. "Yeah, old-age pensioner. Oh, fuck off."
"Sorry, excuse me?" Braniff-Herbert says.
"I said fuck off," says Andrews, approaching Braniff-Herbert, who replies, "You said what?"
The video appears to show Andrew's right hand making contact with the left side of Braniff-Herbert's face.
"Now you're getting me angry now," said Andrews.
Braniff-Herbert told him to leave, adding, "You just physically assaulted me."
"No, I didn't," replied Andrews. After further exchanges in which Braniff-Herbert repeats the accusation, Andrews replies, "Oh, I don't give a shit," before leaving.
David Braniff-Herbert (left) and the man who entered the community hall (right).
"I was shaking," Braniff-Herbert told BuzzFeed News. "I had the biggest shot of adrenaline."
"I felt really intimidated and threatened – he had come into the venue and was looking for a fight. He was aggressive. When he slapped me I was like, 'What the fuck?' I was really surprised, absolutely shocked. This is a councillor – these guys are supposed to be role models in communities, and this guy is going round slapping other people."
Since the alleged incident, Braniff-Herbert, who is gay, has received homophobic abuse on Twitter.
This is a fuller version of the confrontation within the Drill Hall.
Norfolk police said a 72-year-old man from Caister-on-Sea had been arrested and cautioned for a minor assault.
BuzzFeed News has attempted to contact Andrews and UKIP for comment.