LONDON: A 25-year-old British woman has been charged with assault after Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage was doused with a milkshake during his campaign launch, police said Wednesday.
Essex Police said Victoria Thomas Bowen was charged with assault by beating and criminal damage in connection with the incident in Clacton-on-Sea on Tuesday.
She will appear at Colchester Magistrates Court on July 2, a statement said.
Farage, the newly appointed leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, was covered in what appeared to be banana milkshake from a McDonald’s cup after emerging from a pub thronged by crowds.
He had earlier been given a rousing welcome in the Brexit-supporting stronghold.
It was not this first time Farage has been targeted in a milkshake attack.
A man doused him when he was leader of Reform’s forerunner, the Brexit party, during the 2019 European election campaign.
The perpetrator, Paul Crowther, admitted to assault and criminal damage to a lapel mic on Farage’s suit, and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of community service and pay damages.
The Clacton constituency, currently held by the Conservatives, was the first to elect a lawmaker for Farage’s former political vehicle, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), in 2014.
Farage, a former European Parliament member, has run for and failed seven times to become a British MP. His candidacy threatens to split the right-wing vote.
Woman charged with assault after UK politician Farage ‘milkshaked’
https://arab.news/87v9m
Woman charged with assault after UK politician Farage ‘milkshaked’
- Farage, the newly appointed leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, was covered in what appeared to be banana milkshake
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
