Police are investigating threatening messages sent to the anti-Ukip protesters who forced the party leader, Nigel Farage, to flee his local pub on Sunday.

After the demonstration, which the Ukip leader said caused distress to his two youngest children, the activists were sent abuse via text and email, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

Some of the protesters were sent messages detailing what the senders believed were their addresses and phone numbers, and some messages threatened reprisals. One Facebook post read: “If they think they are safe from being slaughtered, they are not.”

In a tweet, one of the protesters was told: “In a free country with legal private weapons, I would have opened fire on you fascists out of self-defense [sic].”

The Metropolitan police confirmed it was investigating the threats.

The messages came after demonstrators in fancy dress held a “diversity cabaret” on Sunday afternoon at a pub in Downe, Kent, where the Ukip leader was dining with his wife and children. Farage claimed that a relative had to go back to look for the children after he left the scene in a car apparently driven by his wife.

@ewajasiewicz In a free country with legal private weapons, I would have opened fire on you fascists out of self-defense. — dlseth_ (@dlseth_) March 22, 2015

The protest provoked an angry reaction in some quarters, not least from Farage, who on Sunday evening called the demonstrators “scum”.

The far-right party Britain First, which invades mosques and runs “Christian patrols” through the streets in armoured vehicles, claimed to have found the home addresses of some of the protesters and threatened to give them a “taste of their own medicine”.

Britain First has expressed its support for Ukip in the general election. It was revealed last month that it orchestrated a campaign to send thousands of complaints to Channel 4 after it aired a film that portrayed Ukip in a bad light.

Ukip has distanced itself from the threatening messages. A spokesman said it “in no way” condoned them. “In fact we condemn them. Two wrongs never make a right.”

An anonymous message to the organiser of the demonstration, Dan Glass, read: “I will be speaking to you soon.” The sender later told the Guardian that he would be “dealing with Mr Glass in person in the next few weeks”.

The correspondent refused to give a name but included details purportedly related to Glass’s private life. In a text message, Glass was warned to “watch out”, while – in another – a man who appeared to be a Ukip supporter suggested Glass jump off a cliff.

One of the many tweets directed at the protesters read: “You shouldn’t have done that and you will be sorry.” Glass said he had also received calls from “about 30 creepy men” that were “threatening my life”.



A threatening tweet sent to an organiser of the protests against Nigel Farage. Photograph: Twitter

He said he could handle threats but that those sent to others were the reason he contacted the police.

Asked whether, in the light of his own demonstration, he agreed that people had the right to carry out peaceful protests at his house and those of his fellow demonstrators, Glass said no. “Nigel Farage was in a public place. He has also made a feature throughout his campaign of being pictured in pubs suggesting he is a man of the people and happy to hang out with ‘the people’. Going to his house would have been completely different because your home is where you expect privacy.

“The pub is a public place, it’s not equivalent of someone’s home, especially when pubs are routinely the setting for his party political publicity.” He added that he did not blame Ukip directly for the messages.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said: “Police in Islington are investigating an allegation of malicious communications. The allegation was made on Monday 23 March. Officers from the community safety unit in Islington are investigating. There have been no arrests. Inquiries continue.”