A mob of young Islamist extremists allegedly threatened to hang anti-war campaigner George Galloway last night as as the country's most bitter election battle spilled into violence on the streets of the East End.

The Respect candidate, who is fighting Labour’s Oona King for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in East London, was meeting locals in a tenant association’s room last night with his daughter, Lucy, when a 40-strong group of militants burst in, his spokesman said today.

Locking the door behind them, the mob allegedly held Mr Galloway and his daughter captive for a few minutes and made threats.

"They said he was a false prophet and that was punishable by death," spokesman Ron McKay told Times Online. "They said for him that would be the gallows - that was presumably a play on his name."

Mr Galloway was only rescued by the arrival of two police constables, who escorted him outside to the car of his son-in-law Jay, who had called the police when he saw the gang arrive at the building on Globe Road in Bethnal Green.

Last night's incident was the second of the day involving young Islamic radicals out to disrupt the general election campaign. Earlier, a mob of protesters believed to be followers of the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed stormed into the Regent's Park mosque in central London and disrupted a press conference by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).

Chanting slogans in English and Arabic, they stood on chairs and shouted insults at Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the MCB, accusing him of apostasy in urging people to vote. They then handed out leaflets which read: "Voting for any political party ... will guarantee your seat in hellfire forever."

The leaflets carried photographs of Tony Blair, Michael Howard, Charles Kennedy and George Galloway, describing them all as "shayateen (devils), crooks, criminals and false gods". An internet address was provided for the Saviour Sect, but an announcement was later posted on the website denying any involvment in the incident.

Police were called to the fracas at the Regents Park mosque, during which one protester seemed to throw a punch at Mr Sacranie. A 25-year-old man was arrested.

Mr McKay said that he believed the same group, the now disbanded El Muhajiroun, was responsible for both incidents.

"We believe it was the same group, the same people that actually carried it out," he said. "It was clearly a concerted plan to cause as much disruption and get as much publicity as possible.... It was the language of El Muhajiroun, the language of bigotry."

Clearly still shocked, Mr McKay described the events after he arrived at the scene, shortly after the two constables.

He said that there were no Respect supporters at the meeting except for Mr Galloway and Lucy, 23. When the two policemen arrived, they asked Mr Galloway if he wanted to leave the meeting, and escorted him to the car outside.

He said: "One cop took him out to Jay's car, put him in and told him to get out of there as quickly as possible. The other policeman rather bravely put himself between George and the mob.

"The police said to us: 'You shouldn't stay where you were going to stay tonight because they know where you live.' So we stayed somewhere else."

As Mr Galloway left in his son-in-law's car, his distraught daughter was temporarily left at the scene. She was escorted to safety on the top floor of the property on Globe Road by officers.

A fracas then broke out outside, and three men were arrested, Scotland Yard said. They were detained for alleged possession of an offensive weapon, public order offences and actual bodily harm. One person was treated in hospital for a minor head injury and later discharged.

Mr Galloway is due to speak at a hustings meeting with his election opponent at Queen Mary University on the Mile End Road tonight, the only time the two candidates will be appearing together in public.

Mr McKay said last night's violence would not affect Mr Galloway's campaign or his determination to unseat Ms King - although security for the former Glasgow MP would have to be stepped up.

Respect campaigners have already come under verbal attack and seen their stalls overturned in previous incidents and Ms King had eggs and vegetables thrown at her when she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead last week.

"There are several brave souls who will put themselves between George and this mob," Mr McKay said.

Mr Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born hardliner, has been touring the country promoting the message that voting is un-Islamic and sinful, attracting hundreds of Muslim youths still angry at the invasion of Iraq and anti-terror laws which are perceived as anti-Muslim.

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