Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town
It was the latest in a series of demonstrations in Epping, northeast of London, after an asylum seeker was charged earlier in July with three counts of sexual assault, including allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
But only about 400 people from rival groups demonstrated in the town, as police put in place a tight security operation, erecting barricades to keep them apart and banning the wearing of masks.
Essex police said they had "a robust policing operation in place to protect our community and to deal swiftly with anyone intent on causing crime or violent disorder".
Protestors gathered outside the Bell Hotel in the town, which has been used to house asylum seekers and refugees, despite pleas from the local council to close it down.
"They're a threat. They don't know who they are, who they're allowing in these hotels, and basically they're putting everybody at danger", one protester, who identified herself only as Cathy, told AFP.
There was also a counter-protest by the organisation Stand Up To Racism, who chanted "refugees are welcome here' and "Whose streets? Our streets".
Three people were arrested Sunday but the protest went off "peacefully," Essex police said in a statement.
The issue of thousands of irregular migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel, coupled with the UK's worsening economy, has triggered rising anger among some Britons.
Such sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fuelled by far-right activists.
Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport.
The shocking killings stoked days of riots across the country after false reports that the killer -- a UK-born teenager whose family came to the country from Rwanda after the 1994 genocide -- was a migrant.
Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest-ever tally at this point in a year.
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