A weekend of protests and counter-protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers began last night, with dozens expected today.
Saturday is set to see more demonstrations across major towns and cities in England, organised under the Abolish Asylum System slogan, with at least 33 planned over the bank holiday weekend.
The protests are expected in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley, Canary Wharf, Aberdeen and Perth in Scotland, and Mold in Wales.
Counter-protests – organised by Stand Up To Racism – are also set to be held in Bristol, Cannock, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Wakefield, Horley and Long Eaton in Derbyshire.
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It comes after Friday night saw the first demonstrations of the weekend, including one outside the TLK hotel in Orpington, south London.
Dozens of protesters could be heard shouting “get them out” and “save our children” next to the site, while counter protesters marched to the hotel carrying banners and placards which read: “Refugees welcome, stop the far right.”
The Metropolitan Police said a large cordon was formed between the two groups and the hotel, and later confirmed that no arrests were made.
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Abolish Asylum System protests were also held in Altrincham, Bournemouth, Cheshunt, Chichester, Dudley, Leeds, Canary Wharf, Portsmouth, Rhoose, Rugby, Southampton and Wolverhampton.
Tensions around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers are at a high after statistics showed there were more than 32,000 asylum seekers currently staying in hotels, marking a rise of 8% during Labour’s first year in office.
Regular protests had been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which started after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on 10 July.
In the wake of those protests, Epping Forest District Council sought and won an interim High Court injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated there – a decision which the government is seeking permission to appeal.
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Farage vows ‘mass deportations’ if elected
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has told The Times there would be “mass deportations” of illegal immigrants if Reform UK wins the next general election, vowing to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights and other international agreements to facilitate five deportation flights a day.
When asked by the newspaper whether that would include Afghan nationals at risk of torture or death, he said: “I’m really sorry, but we can’t be responsible for everything that happens in the whole of the world.
“Who is our priority? Is it the safety and security of this country and its people? Or are we worrying about everybody else and foreign courts?”
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Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum Angela Eagle said in response that the Reform UK leader is “simply plucking numbers out of the air, another pie in the sky policy from a party that will say anything for a headline”.
She added: “This Labour government has substantially increased returns with 35,000 people removed from the country in the last year alone, a huge increase on the last government.
“We are getting a grip of the broken asylum system. Making sure those with no right to be here are removed or deported.”
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Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this parliament in 2029.
Conservative MP and shadow home secretary Chris Philp also accused Reform UK of recycling Tory ideas on immigration.
“Nigel Farage previously claimed mass deportations were impossible, and now he says it’s his policy,” he added. “Who knows what he’ll say next.”
Home Office stops Norfolk hotel
It comes after South Norfolk Council said it had been told that the Home Office intends to stop housing asylum seekers at the Park Hotel in the town of Diss – which has also seen demonstrations over the last month.
Protests broke out there after officials said they would send single men to the hotel rather than women and children. The hotel’s operator had warned it would close if the change was implemented.
A Home Office spokesperson said on Friday that “we are not planning to use this site beyond the end of the current contract”.
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In response, Conservative council leader Daniel Elmer said: “The Home Office thought it could just impose this change and that we would accept it.
“But there is a right way of doing things and a wrong way and the decision by the Home Office was just plain wrong.”
He added that while “I welcome the decision, in reality it does mean that the women and children who we fought so hard to protect will now be moved elsewhere, and that is a shame”.
