Ed Miliband has condemned the "ugly" side of the independence campaign after he was denounced as a "liar" and a "murdererer" during a walkabout in Edinburgh.

The Labour leader was also accused of being a "scaremonger" and a "traitor" as Yes protesters heckled and jostled him inside the St James Shopping Centre.

There were chaotic scenes as a small group of protesters rushed Mr Miliband, with some hurling abuse while others held up "Yes" posters behind his head and chanted "Yes, Yes, Yes", just hours after senior Coalition figures called for an end to intimidation of No politicians.

A rival group of No supporters, who had come along to see the Labour leader, started up a rival calls of "No. No. No" as Mr Miliband struggled to move through the crowd.

In comments drummed out by the calls from the crowd, Mr Miliband said that he backed "more powers for a stronger Scotland as well as NHS funding guaranteed.

"That has got to be weighed up against the big risks of voting Yes.

"That is the choice people are facing in the last couple of days of this referendum campaign," he said.

He also added: "I think we have seen in parts of this campaign an ugly side to it from the Yes campaign."

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael has joined the National Union of Journalists in calling for an end to "intimidation" of No politicians, which he said was affecting ordinary voters.

The Liberal Democrat MP said that the "reality of this is the people who are jostled in the streets, the people who are pushed off the streets are not Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon or John Swinney; it's people like John Prescott and Alistair Darling. And they are pushed off the streets by people waving Yes posters."

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"Nobody should be intimidated from having their say in this debate," he added.

Yesterday he repeated his call for the First Minister to help stop intimidation of Scots backing a No vote.

"Alex Salmond must stop turning a blind eye to what is happening in his own backyard and condemn this behaviour", he said.

Tom Bradby, ITN's Political Editor, said he was not enjoying covering the story, claiming other reporters had been abused and intimidated by some in the Yes campaign.

In a blog, Mr Bradby, who has worked all over the world wrote: "Whilst I am sure both sides have been guilty, the truth - uncomfortable as it is to say it - is that most of the heckling and abuse does seem to be coming from the Nationalists."

He added: "I'm not going to suggest that this bears comparison with really bad places [around the world], but it is certainly highly unusual in the democratic world."

His opposite number at the BBC, Nick Robinson, has faced calls from Yes campaigners to be sacked after they alleged the corporation's reporting is biased towards the pro-Union campaign. Hundreds of pro-independence supporters descended on the BBC's headquarters in Glasgow at the weekend in a protest.

Better Together leader Alistair Darling also attacked the targeting of journalists. He said there should be no intimidation of those doing their job, in Scotland, which he described as a bastion of free speech. "When brave and intrepid journalists ask these ­questions, what happens? Their faces are paraded around Glasgow...This is not something you would expect to find anywhere in the United Kingdom. Scotland is a bastion of freedom of speech."

A spokesman for Yes Scotland made clear it agreed with the NUJ and that all abuse of journalists should be condemned.

"The reality of this debate is that it is overwhelmingly a vibrant celebration of democracy and we shouldn't allow the few badly behaved people on either side to mischaracterise an event that the people of Scotland are very proud of," he added.