RemainerNow volunteer describes shocking moment he was attacked at Brexit demonstrations in front of teenage daughter

Jamie Woodhouse (C) at the Brexit demonstrations with his daughter after they were attacked.
Mike Galsworthy / Twitter
Bonnie Christian14 September 2019
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A father has described the shocking moment he was attacked in front of his teenage daughter at Brexit demonstrations in Parliament Square.

Londoner Jamie Woodhouse, 47, was attending the protests last weekend with his 15-year-old daughter when he was “put in a chokehold” by counter-demonstrators.

He said the “breathtaking” incident was then blogged about by the group that was allegedly involved.

Mr Woodhouse volunteers for RemainerNow, a group that supports people who voted leave but have since changed their mind, and was holding a rolled up EU flag when he exited Westminster Station last Saturday just after 1pm, an hour before the official demonstration was due to start.

He told the Standard it was clear “tensions were running high” when they passed a “very aggressive group” at a pub.

After crossing the street, he said a woman grabbed his flagpole and shouted: "drop that f***** EU flag you c***"

He said he turned around and shouted “drop it, now” and then felt an arm grab him around the neck from behind putting him into “some sort of chokehold”.

Jamie Woodhouse said he has never seen violence against 'random civilians' at rallies before.
Jamie Woodhouse

“It may have been a bit silly but I kept holding onto the flag,” he said.

“I was pushed to the ground, my glasses came off.

“In a video clip of the second part of the incident, it appears a second person - as I try to retrieve my glasses and pick myself up - pushes me back to the ground on the back of the head.”

Brexit protests - In pictures

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Video posted to social media shows a group of people standing in a circle as a man in a cap pushes Mr Woodhouse to the ground by the head and back of the neck. A woman steps in to break the pair up.

Meanwhile, Mr Woodhouse said his daughter, who had attended four rallies before, was just metres away in tears and frightened.

“She didn’t know what was going to happen, she had never seen anything like it before,” he said.

Mr Woodhouse picked himself up and shouted: “I’m here with my daughter” before going over to console her.

“I wasn't seriously physically hurt, we were pretty determined, and my daughter is a complete trooper so she dried her eyes, she insisted we go on to the rally.

“It was genuinely breathtaking something like that would happen in broad daylight in 2019,” Mr Woodhouse said, adding that since he has become involved in the Brexit demonstrations he has never seen any “random civilians” attacked in the way he was.

Demonstrators remonstrate with police officers on Parliament Square.
AFP/Getty Images

“Apart from verbal abuse, I haven't seen anything like that at any of the rallies,” he said.

“Obviously people push back against police and that sort of stuff but not random civilians being mugged on the street.”

But, he said what happened next was even more bizarre.

A blog, which has since been deleted but has been seen by the Standard, appeared on a website associated with Pie and Mash - a far right group - describing the moment.

Brexit protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster
PA

It said: "Saw people fighting police and throwing s*** in the main kettle, then saw a bird grab a leftys flag and they were having a tug of war over it and a guy picked the lefty up and slammed him into the pavement.

“Lefties were shocked as f*** saying ‘cant we debate this’ while surrounded by screaming hostiles they were shocked as f****."

Mr Woodhouse said a Twitter user associated with the group then started talking to him on social media after he posted about the incident, telling him to “stop crying” because “he didn’t even get punched”.

Mr Woodhouse said he decided to talk about what happened because even though these types of altercations are “vanishingly rare” he wanted to make a point that the violence was not helping the group’s cause.

“I didn't want to amplify what they'd done but I did want to make the point that they're not helping their cause, they don't represent the vast majority of people who still want to leave.

“They're latching on to the Brexit debate because they're people who will look for any excuse for violence.”

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “On Saturday, September 7, it was reported to police that a 47-year-old man had been assaulted in Great George Street.

“It is alleged the man was pushed to the floor after a man put his arm around his throat at 13.20hrs.

“The suspect is described as a white man, in his 40s, who was bald or had very short hair.

“There has been no arrest. Enquiries continue.”

The force said a total of 16 arrests were made in connection with the protest in Westminster, including 13 for violent disorder, one for possession of offensive weapon, one for affray, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence.

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