UK asylum hotel protests spread to multiple cities

A regional police chief in England has called for urgent government talks as protests against asylum seeker housing intensified over the weekend, with a fifth demonstration at a hotel in Epping, northeast of London, and similar actions occurring outside several other facilities across the country.

Demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel's asylum seeker accommodation in the county of Essex over the past two weeks have led to multiple arrests, with people facing charges for violent disorder and criminal damage.

Hundreds of officers from Essex, London's Metropolitan Police, and forces across England were deployed on Sunday to deal with more than 500 protesters who converged on the hotel.

The crowd carried signs demanding priority for local residents and an end to migrant boat arrivals, while expressing opposition to the government's asylum hotel policy.

The protests have expanded to other cities, including Norwich, Leeds, and Southampton, reported The Sun newspaper.

There were clashes between 400 anti-immigration protesters and 250 counter-demonstrators at a hotel near Norwich in the east of England on Saturday, while hundreds more gathered outside an asylum hotel in London's Canary Wharf on Sunday.

Lewis Nielsen, an officer with the counter-protest organizer Stand Up to Racism, was quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying the Reform UK political party was to blame, by encouraging far-right activity.

"It's a really dangerous situation at the moment because you haven't just got the protest here, you've got other protests coming up around the country," Nielsen said. "We stopped the riots last August with these kinds of mobilizations, and that's why we're pleased the one today has been successful."

The police and crime commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, has requested a meeting with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper regarding The Bell Hotel's use as asylum seeker accommodation. Hirst cited significant policing costs and the hotel's location as concerns.

"The Bell is not the right place for a hotel for asylum seekers," he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper, noting its proximity to schools and position in a market town.

"It's costing hundreds of thousands of pounds in police overtime ... It's a diversion of resources from what police officers should be doing."

Essex Police imposed restrictions on the protests that required pro and anti-migrant groups to be separated on designated sites, and banned anyone from wearing face coverings.

Following the sustained protests, local lawmakers for the district council of Epping Forest, Essex, last week voted unanimously to urge the closure of the hotel.

Council leader Chris Whitbread told a public meeting he was concerned that "peaceful protests" are "being infiltrated" by people "on the extremes of politics".

Home Office figures show 32,000 asylum seekers are currently housed in 210 hotels across the United Kingdom. Small migrant boat crossings of the English Channel have reached a record total of 24,000 so far this year.

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com