Nigel Farage vowed he “will not surrender to the mob” after he was pelted by objects in Barnsley town centre on Tuesday.
Reform UK leader Farage thanked South Yorkshire Police for arresting a 28-year-old man who threw a cup, narrowly missing him on top of a party battle bus.
A man in a red hoodie could be seen shouting from a work site below, before reaching into a bucket and throwing something else, which also missed.
Workers appeared to then haul the man away and he ran off, before police officers tackled him to the ground.
Mr Farage said he believes the objects were some wet cement and a coffee cup.
Speaking at a rally in Great Yarmouth on Tuesday, he described the situation as “very difficult because I actually like going out meeting people”.
He said: “All I can say is that whilst it’s concerning and whilst of course it does make me thoughtful and I may need to change tactics, slightly, but I’m going to make one promise to you… and my promise is this: I will not surrender to the mob, I will not stop campaigning, this democratic process has to continue.”
He added that he believes “our democratic process is directly under threat”.
“What happened to me in Clacton last week when a young woman threw a milkshake in my face and then the mob violence that we saw in Barnsley today is an attempt to stop me speaking.
“It’s an attempt to stop us campaigning. It’s an attempt to crush democracy.
“It’s worrying, it’s frightening and it’s noticeable that most of the people there today were young men and women either at or freshly out of our university system.
“Their minds are being poisoned in school, in university and it’s plain wrong.”
South Yorkshire Police said: “We have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of public order offences following disorder in Barnsley town centre today.
“It is believed that the man threw objects from a nearby construction area.
“A suspect was quickly detained and remains in police custody.”
On social media, Mr Farage wrote: “My huge thanks to South Yorkshire Police today.
“I will not be bullied or cowed by a violent left-wing mob who hate our country.”
Mr Farage had been warned by police not to get off the bus.
It comes after Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, was charged with assault by beating and criminal damage when a milkshake was thrown over Mr Farage as he left the Moon and Starfish Wetherspoon pub in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex on Tuesday last week.
Mr Farage was seen with the yellow drink splattered across his dark blue suit as he boarded his campaign bus.
During a campaign walkabout in Newcastle in 2019, he had a £5.25 Five Guys banana and salted caramel milkshake thrown at him.
