Peaceful ‘pink protest' outside migrant hotel hijacked by masked men

Telegraph

2 days ago

Violent masked men have hijacked a peaceful protest outside a migrant hotel in which women in pink danced a conga.
More than 100 demonstrators gathered on Sunday outside the Britannia Hotel in London's Canary Wharf to oppose the use of the four-star accommodation to house asylum seekers.
Video showed female protesters dressed in pink performing a cheerful conga as they waved England flags.
But the demonstration was soon taken over by a gang of masked men who swarmed the crowd, set off smoke bombs and tried to charge the fence surrounding the hotel before arrests were made.
They were also heard chanting 'Keir Starmer's a w----r'.
Sunday's protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, including protests and counter-protests outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington on Saturday which led to clashes with police.
Smiling as they sang, the conga demonstrators held a banner which said: 'Protecting women and children. It's not far right, it's just right.'
One of the protesters was dressed in a T-shirt that depicted the Prime Minister as 'Keir Stalin', with a hammer and sickle, the communist symbol.
Lisa, one of the protesters who was dressed in pink, said the protest had been organised by the local community to 'protect our women and kids'.
'We don't want sexual assaults, rapes and robberies in our community. We need proper detention centres and to deport them,' she said.
Arrests and chants of 'send them home'
Another demonstrator, Kelly, said the reason for dressing in pink was to send a message about 'women and unity'.
But then chants of 'send them home' broke out while one man rattled the metal fence outside the hotel in full view of police officers. Tourists, shoppers and guests at a nearby hotel stopped to take pictures of the demonstration.
Protesters jeered at people going in and out of the hotel, while at least one man was detained after an angry confrontation with officers. Onlookers chanted 'shame' as he was carried away.
Tower Hamlets council was recently informed by the Home Office that it intended to use the hotel to house asylum seekers.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, a coachload of men entered the Britannia Hotel, but it is unclear if they were migrants.
On Sunday, a food delivery believed to be from Nando's was made to the hotel, which led to a number of boos from protesters.
The Home Office would not confirm the identity of the men on the coach, but said in a statement: 'Since this Government took office, we have taken immediate action to fix the asylum system, removing more than 35,000 people with no right to be here in our first year.'
Hotel protests spreading
On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police made nine arrests after rival groups gathered outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington, north London.
A protest and counter-protest also took place in Newcastle city centre outside the New Bridge Hotel and four people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences, Northumbria Police said.
Scotland Yard said plans were in place to 'respond to any protest activity in the vicinity of other hotels in London being used to accommodate asylum seekers'.
Elsewhere, Essex Police placed a number of restrictions on a planned protest in Epping on Sunday evening.
The force ordered that the demonstration should finish by 8.30pm and must take place in designated areas outside the Bell Hotel, which has been the focus of a series of protests over the last few weeks.
Police have also banned face coverings until 3am on Monday and have the power to direct anyone committing or suspected of committing anti-social behaviour to leave the area until 8am on Monday.