Deputy Inder, who abstained in the final vote on the introduction of a goods and services tax, said he walked through ‘some quite aggressive cat-calling and swearing’ on his way to the States chamber, which he said was worse than it had been on the previous two days.
He said he was screamed and shouted at ‘with some aggression’ and as the glass door to the court closed behind him, he raised ‘a generic finger behind me’.
‘The level of abuse being waged by online campaigners and their leads is going to get a politician hurt at some point – I’ve experienced a number of physical threats and incidents over the last year which are directly related to social media output.
‘Should I have reacted so? Probably not, but we all have our limits. It was below par and it won’t happen again.’
Protestors were immediately unhappy about the deputy’s reaction.
Bruce Caruso, a noted cannabis campaigner among other issues, sought to file a formal complaint.
In an email, he said that Deputy Inder had crossed a line in his ‘completely unacceptable’ behaviour.
‘But as an elected deputy, you should have enough respect for the people you represent to conduct yourself with some basic professionalism.
'Giving protesters the middle finger isn’t political debate. It isn’t leadership. And it certainly isn’t showing respect for the democratic process,’ he said.
You need to be logged in to comment.