The defaced billboards prompted widespread reactions.
Photos of defaced UKIP campaign posters were spread across social media yesterday, demonstrating Lambeth residents’ opposition to the party.
Pictures of the poster in Vauxhall have appeared online via Twitter, with varying reactions.
One poster was defaced with spray paint over the central image, and the words “F*** off U p****s”, scrawled at the bottom.
Elizabeth Jones, Chairwoman of Southwark UKIP, said: “Labour’s Ed Davie’s dissemination of rumour by tweet and this vandalism are simply crude tools of censorship proving that we are an insurgent dissident party with a clear message which the tired mainstream parties perceive as a threat and to which they can’t constructively respond.
“To quote Oprah ‘what goes around comes around’ and let’s not forget history remembers the dissent, not the bully for who can name one member of the papal court judging Galileo?”
Residents have also taken to Twitter to voice their own opinions on the vandalism.
Lee Jasper, National Black Members Officer for the UK Respect Party, shared an image of the graffiti and tweeted: “Lee Jasper @LeeJasper Here’s the peoples of Lambeths response to @UKIP posters. @UkipBillboards Well played Lambeth well played.”
Joseph Willits said: “@josephwillits #UKIP actually decided to put one if their ghastly posters in #Vauxhall? ‘Brought it on themselves’ springs to mind.”
Lambeth Labour councillor, Edward Davie, tweeted: “Edward Davie @EdDavie This #StGeorgesDay in #Lambeth residents celebrate English tradition of fighting fascists by defacing UKIP poster.”
“I’m not condoning vandalism but when I saw the graffiti damaged UKIP poster in Vauxhall I wasn’t surprised,” Mr Davie later added.
“Lambeth is one of the most diverse places in the world and all the richer for it but one group of people we don’t want is racists trying to stir up tension and division.”
The posters, which were unveiled on Monday in Sheffield, have generated mass controversy, with religious leaders and Conservative MPs condemning them as ‘deeply divisive, offensive and ignorant’.
Former army chief, Lord Dannatt, has also criticised the publicity campaign, saying that it was disrespectful and inappropriate in its depiction of a burning Union Jack with the EU flag behind.
UKIP Leader, Nigel Farage, has stood by the posters and said that he has no issue with them ‘ruffling a few feathers’.
He slammed poster critics who branded them offensive, saying that they wanted to avoid discussing immigration.
He said: “Westminster hates it and want to scream blue murder. They would rather we did not talk about it and just brushed it under the carpet.”
Posters have also been similarly defaced in Liverpool.
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