'Migrant hotel': Epping council unanimously urge Government to close hotel

Yahoo

3 days ago

IN a vote yesterday, Epping council has unanimously passed a motion to urge the Government 'to immediately and permanently close" a "migrant hotel" in the Essex town.
The motion follows protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping believed to house asylum seekers, which has become the centre of national attention after demonstrations which began peacefully last week escalated into violence; with police officers injured and a total of 18 people arrested.
During the meeting Conservative councillor Shane Yerrell read a message from the father of a 14-year-old girl after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss her, which said: "I just want the hotel to be moved".
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denied charges of sexual assault at Chelmsford Magistrates' court earlier this month.
In the message read to the meeting by Councillor Shane Yerrell said: 'I do not want or condone any of the violence that has taken place at the protests – 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, not only off our streets, but away from making any other family feel how we are feeling right now.'
In a sometimes confrontational meeting, speakers criticised the disorder that has erupted at some of the gatherings, and the reported attendance of members of the far right.
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Seven people have now been charged in relation to protests outside the hotel, while another protest yesterday saw Essex Police thank those demonstrators for protesting peacefully.
Jon Whitehouse, Epping Liberal Democrat leader said the people of Epping 'can fight their own battles and want their Thursdays and Sundays back'.
He said: 'I'm appalled it's been necessary for the police to arrive in Epping in such volume and such force because of the violence and the intimidation that we've experienced here.
'Facilitating passionate, lawful protest is a difficult and an important task – it's made more difficult when those with no interest in the community of Epping choose to exploit those concerns, exploit the victims of crime and awful experiences for their own warped ends.
'If you're here to stir up violence and confrontation in the surge of warped ideology – or maybe for some social media clicks – we don't want you and we don't need you.'