Nigel Farage is a member of the European Parliament who previously served as the leader of UKIP and helped lead the Brexit campaign. Today, Farage was campaigning in Newcastle and had a milkshake thrown at him. The man responsible was arrested and Farage reportedly plans to press charges. From the BBC:

Paul Crowther, 32, from Throckley, Newcastle, said it was a £5.25 Five Guys banana and salted caramel milkshake…

Mr Crowther said: “I didn’t know he [Mr Farage] was in town, I thought this is my only chance.

“It’s a right of protest against people like him.

“The bile and the racism he spouts out in this country is far more damaging than a bit of milkshake to his front.”

Here’s a video of the incident. As he walks away, Farage mutters this was “a complete failure” while someone off camera cackles about it.

Pelting people on the right with milkshakes has apparently become a thing in the UK over the past week. In fact, a few days ago police prevented a McDonalds from selling shakes at another Farage stop in Edinburgh.

The McDonald's next to the Farage demo. Someone clearly got wind. pic.twitter.com/kHETQ66TOq

— Scott Macdonald 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 (@scott_eff) May 17, 2019

CNN reports this all started with someone throwing a milkshake at Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson.

Police were concerned that protesters would buy milkshakes from a McDonald’s a few hundred meters away with the intention of pouring them on the hardline Brexiteer’s head.

A milkshake-dunking movement in Britain began after video went viral earlier this month showing a protester throwing a McDonald’s milkshake over far-right campaigner Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

Here’s the video of that incident:

The other person who got “milkshaked” over the weekend was Carl Benjamin aka Sargon of Akkad:

Looks like UKIP European election candidate Carl Benjamin was the latest to get the milkshake treatment during a visit to Salisbury today

Picture from @Stegsythedog pic.twitter.com/rPikipMXzy

— Rebecca Hudson (@WiltsRebecca) May 19, 2019

And just like that, this is now a thing progressive adults in the UK do to people they disagree with. The goal is to humiliate someone without physically harming them. But it seems likely to backfire as Piers Morgan pointed out:

Throwing milkshakes over @Nigel_Farage is pathetic & will make him even more popular.
The left in the UK, as in the US, are now experts at little else but political self-harm. pic.twitter.com/KZjG4eMJFX

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 20, 2019

Others were defending this tactic as “non-violent.”

It is not the same, nor is it a prelude to, people throwing acid or bricks at someone. And it is most certainly not the same as murdering an MP, a disgraceful comparison which people should not be making.

— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) May 20, 2019

I don’t know much about the law in the UK but the guy who tagged Farage today was put in handcuffs and taken away. That suggests to me this is being viewed as some flavor of assault (see what I did there). Farage has apparently said he intends to press charges:

BREAKING Nigel Farage has now made a statement to Northumbria Police and told them that he will press charges for assault against the man who threw milkshake over him.

— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) May 20, 2019

I suspect this is something we could see catch on here as well. I sincerely hope no one is dumb enough to try this with President Trump. For one thing, the Secret Service doesn’t need to have their time wasted with idiocy like this. For another, the person who tries it is very likely to get hurt when agents react before knowing this was just a stupid prank. Still, this seems like the kind of stunt the left will find irresistible. It’s a way to silence your opponent that your fellow leftists can claim was just a humorous gag.