Anti-immigration leader comes under fire on Scottish trip

(LONDON) - Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) had to be rescued from a Scottish pub by police in a riot van after protesters disrupted his press conference on Thursday.

He sought sanctuary in a pub in Edinburgh's historic central street, the Royal Mile, after being accosted by protesters chanting "scum, scum, scum".

Farage was in the Scottish capital to launch his party's campaign north of the border as he looks to build on the party's growing popularity in England.

Protester Max Crema, 21, of Edinburgh University Students Association, accused UKIP of having "a well-documented history of racism".

Farage insisted his party was "non-racist and non-sectarian."

Police later revealed that two men had been arrested following the protest.

Farage's spokesman Gawain Towler said the party leader had been "deeply unshaken" by the incident and derided the protesters' "inchoate rage".

UKIP broke through as a major political force in England earlier this month following local elections that delivered a bloody nose to Britain's ruling coalition.

Farage says his anti-EU party can no longer be dismissed as a protest movement as it averaged almost a quarter of the vote in local authority elections in England.

UKIP, which wants Britain out of the European Union, has picked up support from socially conservative voters, many of them older people disillusioned by the mainstream parties, particularly with their failure to control immigration.