Farage Defends Brexit, '100 Years of Female Liberation' Against Merkel, EU

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Nigel Farage is channeling the ire felt by Britons over the Cologne sex attacks in his drive to convince British voters to part ways with Brussels. Hundreds of criminal complaints were filed by women in Cologne and other cities across Germany following New Year's Eve, when groups of purportedly Arab and North African men allegedly robbed, threatened and sexually assaulted them. These attacks prompted many to second-guess the EU policy towards accepting refugees, especially in light of the fact that Brussels has been compelling other EU members to provide migrants with asylum.

​"To me, if you allow the unlimited access of huge numbers of young males into the European continent who come from countries where women are at best are second class citizens, don't be surprised if scenes that we saw in Cologne don't happen more often. For goodness sake, do we want those young men within five years to have EU passports and to be able to come to our country and to reverse a hundred years of female liberation and to change our entire way of life?," Farage said, speaking at a pro-Brexit rally in Wales, as quoted by the ITV television channel.

​The UK is set to vote on June 23 in an in/out referendum, after Prime Minister David Cameron and 27 of his European colleagues secured a deal in February to grant the United Kingdom special status within the bloc.

Cameron, who won the 2015 election on a promise to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership, now leads the "Stay" campaign.