Epping council votes to close controversial migrant hotel
With many perhaps deterred by the bad weather, about 200 protesters gathered at the Bell Hotel in Epping, far fewer than the previous Thursday when there were estimated to be 1,000 people and clashes took place between protesters and police.
They were met by a significant police presence that included dogs, territorial support units, which specialise in policing public order, and scores of officers who formed a human cordon around the hotel. Officers were also stationed all over the town and police vans snaked up the high street.
• Neo-Nazis leading Epping hotel protests call for nationwide action
The Bell has housed migrants since 2020, but protests were sparked after Hadush Kebatu, 38, an Ethiopian migrant and resident of the hotel, was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl.
They soon decided to march along the main road to the Epping Forest district council building, all the while flanked by a cordon of police officers.
Inside the council building, a meeting was in session to vote on closing the Bell for housing asylum seekers.
Shane Yerrell, a Tory councillor, read out a statement from the father of the girl who was allegedly assaulted by Kebatu.
'I do not want or condone any of the violence that has taken place at the protests,' he said. 'That's not what we're about, and that's not what we're trying to achieve.
'It's only going to make things go the other way. I just want the hotel to be moved … away from making any other family feel how we're feeling right now.'
Outside, protesters milled around in the rain, occasionally raising chants of 'save our kids' or 'Starmer is a wanker'. There were scattered confrontations between individual protesters and police officers, including one man with a St George's flag draped over his shoulder, who took issue with an officer who asked him not to walk on the road.
Callum Barker, a member of Homeland, a far-right party that has been helping to organise the protests, made a speech over a megaphone in which he berated police for having 'caged us like animals'.
• Epping protest: Nigel Farage defends asylum hotel demonstrators
When news came through that the council had voted to close the hotel, protesters greeted it with a round of cheers shortly afterwards followed by Winston Churchill's 'We shall fight them on the beaches' speech that was played over a loudspeaker.
Earlier in the day Essex police had issued a dispersal order across Epping from 2pm on Thursday until 8am on Friday, giving officers the power to direct anyone suspected of committing antisocial behaviour, or planning to do so, to leave the area or face arrest.
The decision to deploy large policing numbers comes amid mounting fear that the protests may escalate and spread to other parts of the country as they did during the race riots of last summer.
• Nigel Farage denies whipping up trouble in Southport
Last Thursday, the demonstration descended into violence as protesters brawled with police and smashed up their vehicles. Smaller demonstrations have also taken place in Canary Wharf and Diss over the past week.
Chris Noble, the lead for protests at the NPCC, said all forces were ready and prepared after a detailed review of mistakes made during last summer's riots.
'We have robust and well-tested proactive plans in place, with the ability to mobilise significant and specialist resources, if necessary,' he said.
'Following last summer, we carried out a thorough review of national and regional processes, which has seen us take steps to further enhance our ability to respond in a timely and effective manner.'
Police arrested 16 people involved in protests outside the hotel last week on Thursday and Sunday. Eight officers were injured and a number of police vehicles were damaged as missiles were thrown, Essex police said.
Police released video showing the arrest of a man from Harlow in his living room on suspicion of violent disorder during one of the protests last week.
Speaking to The Times, Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, warned violent thugs hijacking protests outside migrant hotels that she will 'always' ensure there is space in jail if they break the law before a series of demonstrations planned for this weekend.
She said there was 'nothing wrong' with those staging peaceful protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, such as the Bell Hotel in Epping. However, she said those who turn to violence during the protests will 'face the full force of the law'.
Located on the boundary between London and Essex, Epping is an affluent market town popular with commuters working in the capital, and is a 40-minute journey on the Central Line of the Tube.
On the high street are shops and cafés, such as Gail's Bakery and the chocolatier Thornton's, as well as two fine art galleries. Large mansions that sell for up to £10 million stand on the edge of town, complete with swimming pools and tennis courts. The average house price is about £620,000, according to the estate agent Elliott James. But there are also pockets of deprivation, and in 2020 parts of the town were rated as being within the top 10 per cent of the most unhealthy areas in the country.
Epping Forest, the constituency in which the town of 12,000 is situated, has returned a Conservative member of parliament at every election since 1974 when the constituency was created. Some 63 per cent of voters opted to leave the EU in 2016.
Immigration in the area has been below average. In 2021, 6.9 per cent of Epping Forest residents said they were not British, compared with 10 per cent across England, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The area has long attracted far-right activity, with the British National Party winning a series of council seats in the 2000s. In 2010 the party won 4.3 per cent of the vote at the general election, compared with 1.9 per cent nationally. After the BNP collapsed, several members switched to For Britain, an anti-Muslim party.
Julian Leppert, a former BNP councillor, won an Epping Forest district council seat for the party in 2019. When asked by a newspaper in 2020 whether he wanted a whites-only enclave in the area, he replied: 'Ideally, yeah.'
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