It was a bright but chilly Thursday morning when Danyaal Mahmud set off from Blackburn to Warrington in Cheshire for a meeting with an occupational health therapist. The 23-year-old works as an apprentice customer services adviser and had never been to a march before.

By the end of the afternoon, Mahmud had become the poster boy for protest; a clip of him throwing a milkshake over Tommy Robinson’s head has been shared as the viral sensation of the week.

Speaking to the Observer on video call from his home, where he lives with his mum, dad, and four siblings, Mahmud, 23, says he is still in shock. “I’m a low-key person, I didn’t anticipate this publicity and I don’t want it – I’m getting death threats on social media and I am worried about me and my family being targeted.”

Mahmud says he was walking through the town square when he was invited to join protesters waiting to meet the English Defence League founder Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – on his volatile campaign trail to become an MEP for North West England.

“This local councillor … was there with the UAF [Unite Against Fascism] and he explained to me that Tommy was coming in to the town, that he was standing as MEP and that they were going to tell him he wasn’t welcome. I had the day off and some time before my meeting and he asked me to join them, so I did.” Mahmud shakes his head. “I was the only Asian person there. All these people from UAF kept hugging me and telling me I was brave to be standing with them.”

Robinson arrived in a Mercedes-type van, Mahmud recalls, and from there things got heated. Mahmud claims he was targeted by Robinson and his entourage. “The first time he approached me, he asked me if I thought he was racist and I said: yeah. Then he says: ‘do you know 80% of grooming gangs are Muslim?’ I go to him, ‘that’s a false statistic there, what about white paedophiles? Why are they not called Christian grooming gangs?’ – and then he goes off on one.”

Mahmud says he was shoved and repeatedly abused. “I did join in with the protesters telling him he was scum, I admit it, but they [his supporters] had been really aggressive,” he says, alleging that some were shouting a racial slur at him and calling him a paedophile and a terrorist. Mahmud says he reported the incident to a police constable and left to go to his meeting.

“One of the UAF guys walked me to my meeting because we knew it was dangerous for me to go on my own. The police told me to dial 999 straight away if I was followed,” he says. Mahmud expected that by late afternoon the crowds would have cleared from the square and that he could quietly make his way back to the train station. Instead, he says he was met by Robinson and his supporters.

Danyaal Mahmud throws a milkshake over Tommy Robinson in Warrington. Photograph: @AzTheBaz Twitter

“They came running after me. At that point I was scared for my life. I looked calm but I knew that I was going to get beaten whatever the outcome was. He said I’d assaulted a woman, which wasn’t true. He said that I was aggressive and I couldn’t do shit so I just threw the milkshake in his face and ducked.”

In the footage that subsequently went viral, Robinson launches a volley of punches to Mahmud’s head before being pulled back. Mahmud says a police officer protected him from further beatings and he was later dropped off at the train station. Cheshire police later said they were investigating an incident following an allegation of assault.

“I went straight home, then to the hospital for four hours,” says Mahmud. “I’ve got bruising and cuts on my back and a minor head injury. Even when I was in the hospital, people kept staring or taking pictures and I kept thinking, ‘what if one of them is a Tommy Robinson supporter? What if they come for me?’”

It has been a turbulent week for Robinson. Two more fights were recorded in Warrington, in which two activists were hospitalised and Robinson’s campaign organiser, Danny Thomas, was filmed barging into a man and provoking a brawl.

At that point I was scared for my life. I looked calm but I knew that I was going to get beaten Danyaal Mahmud

Robinson’s bid to stand in the European elections later this month has seen him touring northern towns. In Salford, he was humiliated by a woman telling him he was “spouting any old shite” and he has now been doused in milkshake twice over – first in Bury, then in Warrington, by Mahmud. On Friday, one of Robinson’s far-right supporters was filmed threatening a teenager holding a milkshake, with “I promise I’ll knock your teeth out”. Elsewhere, the Daily Mail reported on a “Robinson crony” confiscating a milkshake at a rally, prompted by a social media campaign to “stop Tommy with milkshake”.

Robinson claims he is a “politically targeted” victim failed by the law, despite being protected by a police escort out of Warrington. “No amount of punches, milkshakes, attacks or anything is going to stop me,” he said in a video recorded last week. He described Mahmud as “a young Muslim agitator”.

Mahmud said he was “worried” that Robinson would “have a chance getting elected given the current climate”, but said he was keeping his head down, despite his burgeoning fame. “I’d be willing to bury the hatchet with Tommy,” he said. “I guess we could shake on it.”