Milkshakes were removed Friday from the menu of a McDonald’s in Scotland in anticipation of protesters purchasing them to pelt at British politician Nigel Farage[1].
Signage posted at a McDonald’s in Edinburgh near the location of a rally featuring Mr. Farage[2], the leader of the Brexit Party, said employees were selling neither milkshakes nor ice cream “due to a police request given recent events.”
“At the request of Police Scotland, we temporarily removed our McFlurry and milkshake products from sale in our Chesser Avenue restaurant yesterday evening,” a McDonald’s spokesperson confirmed when reached Saturday by The Washington Times.
Police Scotland declined to comment.
Located roughly 500 feet from the location of Friday’s rally, McDonald’s decision to briefly suspend milkshake sales may have prevented Mr. Farage[3], a longtime member of the European Parliament, from suffering the same sticky fate as fellow right-wing candidates Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and Carl Benjamin, who were both recently drenched with frozen dairy drinks hurled by demonstrators.
Known better as Tommy Robinson, the former head of the English Defence League, Mr. Yaxley-Lennon was struck by milkshakes twice in two days while campaigning earlier this month. More recently, this week protesters pelted milkshakes toward Mr. Benjamin, a YouTube personality known as Sargon of Akkad, three times in three days.
Dr. Benjamin Franks, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, said the increasingly popular act of protest “is clearly effective in making the victim feel uncomfortable and look ridiculous.”
“The bathos of the great leader brought low by a drink associated with children is highly effective,” he said in an article published[4] in the New Statesman this week prior to Mr. Farage[5]’s appearance in Edinburg.
European Parliament elections are scheduled to be held from May 23 through May 26. Mr. Yaxley-Lennon is running as an independent, and Mr. Benjamin is running under the UK Independence Party, or UKIP....