UK police arrest 6 after protesters descend on a hotel housing asylum seekers
Police in the town of Epping said they arrested six people on Sunday, including four suspected of involvement in 'violent disorder' during the previous demonstration on Thursday. Officers patrolled the area around the Bell Hotel throughout the night after issuing an order for the crowds to disperse.
Chanting 'Save our kids' and 'Send them home,' more than 100 demonstrators, some brandishing British flags, gathered outside the hotel Sunday evening. The protests escalated as night fell, with flares and projectiles thrown toward police vans blocking the entrance. Police escorted a counter-protester from the area after demonstrators surrounded her.
'Disappointingly we have seen yet another protest, which begun peacefully, escalate into mindless thuggery with individuals again hurting one of our officers and damaging a police vehicle,″ Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow of the Essex Police said in a statement. 'For anyone who thinks we will tolerate their thuggery — think again.''
The protests come amid escalating tensions over the rising number of asylum seekers who are being housed at government expense in hotels around the country. Those pressures flared into days of rioting last month in Northern Ireland after two teenagers were arrested on charges of sexual assault.
Violent anti-immigrant protests spread throughout the U.K. last summer after social media users spread misinformation about the identity of the person who attacked a dance class in the northwestern town of Southport, killing three young girls. The attacker was a 17-year-old who was born in the U.K. born in the U.K. to parents from Rwanda, not an asylum seeker as had been rumored.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned last year's riots as 'far-right thuggery' as police intervened to stop the violence and expedited the sentencing of those convicted of taking part.
Before Sunday's protests in Epping, local police issued an order that allowed them to force demonstrators to remove face coverings. The later issued an order for the demonstrators to leave the area around the hotel. That dispersal order remained in effect until 4 a.m. Monday.
The demonstration came after eight police officers were injured on Thursday after a peaceful protest outside the hotel escalated into violence. Police blamed the violence on people from outside the community who 'arrived at the scene intent on causing trouble.'
Four of those detained on Sunday were arrested in connection with events that happened during the initial protest, police said. A fifth was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a police car, while the sixth was arrested for being equipped to cause criminal damage.
The protests began after a 38-year-old asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault after allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. The man is being held without bail after he had his first court appearance on July 10. He denies the charges.
'We don't take sides, we arrest criminals and we have a duty to ensure no-one is hurt — plain and simple,″ Anslow said. 'I know the people of Essex know what we're about so I know they won't believe the rubbish circulating online that is designed to do nothing more than inflame tensions and trouble.''
Epping Forest District Council, which provides local government services in the area, condemned the violence but said it had long opposed the central government's decision to use the Bell Hotel to house asylum seekers.
'We have consistently shared concerns with the Home Office that the Bell Hotel is an entirely unsuitable location for this facility and should close,' council Leader Chris Whitbread said in a statement last week. 'We continue to press Home Office officials for the immediate closure of the site and are encouraged that our local MPs are now actively supporting our call.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Belfast Pride's 2025 theme strikes defiant note
Belfast Pride is striking a defiant note as it holds its annual parade in the city on Saturday. Pride's 2025 theme is "Not Going Back", which organisers said was chosen because they believe "LGBTQIA+ rights are under attack, here and across the world". Stormont's four executive parties, Sinn Féin, DUP, Alliance and UUP, have been told by Pride organisers they are not welcome at the parade because they supported a ban on puberty blockers for under-18s. The parade starts at Custom House Square at 13:00 BST and will make its way through the city centre before finishing in Victoria Street. Thousands of marchers and spectators are expected to watch and take part in the parade, which is part of a wider programme of events. The wider Pride festival has been running since 19 July and finishes on Sunday. The festival's co-chairpersons, Neil Millar-McDonagh and Lynn Millar, said said the "Not Going Back" theme sent a clear message. "As we celebrate how far we've come, we stand firm in our commitment to keep moving forward - towards love, equality and justice for everyone in our LGBTQIA+ community," they said. Political controversy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said she was sad her party was permitted to march in Belfast Pride over the puberty blockers ban. The Sinn Féin deputy leader said she would still celebrate Pride "in my own way". Stormont's Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir, who is gay, has said he will be taking part in Belfast Pride in a "personal capacity". The majority of Pride parades across Northern Ireland have taken a similar decision and asked the executive parties not to attend. Lynn Millar said that the rights of the transgender community were "under threat" as a result of the ban. Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, she defended the decision to exclude executive parties from taking part in the parade. "We're acting on what our trans community wanted us to do," Ms Millar said. "Pride has always been a protest. It started out as riots - we're not going back to that. "We celebrate Pride as well, but there will always be a political element when it comes to human rights and I'm not going to apologise for that." First minister 'sad' politicians not welcome at Pride over trans rights Political parties banned from some NI Pride events Head of NI Civil Service warned over Belfast Pride involvement
Bloomberg
39 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
The Tories' Reshuffle Won't Fend Off Reform's Challenge
The mercury is rising on community tensions in the UK. This message is no longer the preserve of people who flam up every small crisis into a bigger one; Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner warns 'the social fabric' needs repairing as police in Essex face a wave of residents' protests over the housing of migrants in their midst. A More in Common opinion poll this week reveals that 73% believe that it is 'very' or 'quite likely' that there will soon be race riots. The sleepy market town of Epping has become the latest tinder box. Outside the unassuming Bell Hotel, recently converted into a hostel for asylum seekers, there have been violent clashes between far-right thugs and Socialist Worker Party troublemakers who have hijacked a local dispute for their own opposing purposes.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Worker threatened with weapons by shoplifters
A convenience store worker has described being threatened with weapons when challenging shoplifters as incidents increase across a county. "I've been threatened with knives, with hockey sticks, every day you're seeing something get worse," said Kieran Essex, 27, who works in a shop in Peterborough. Figures from Cambridgeshire Police show reports of shoplifting have more than doubled over the past five years and Mr Essex said it was a "pandemic". Darryl Preston, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said work was taking place to tackle the issue. Mr Essex has been working in retail for nine years and said there were now "countless" amounts of shoplifters. He said he has experienced "physical contact" with offenders on numerous occasions. "I have had to tackle people at the door, have pursued them outside and have even had people drive off with me inside their car window." He said recently the shop was targeted by shoplifters over four days in a ten-day period. "Everyone is just trying to survive," Mr Essex said. In 2020 3,006 shoplifting incidents were recorded by Cambridgeshire Police across the county, this figure rose to 3,161 in 2021, 4,331 in 2022, 6,046 in 2023 and 7,352 in 2024. Vidyut Soni, the owner of Premier City News in Peterborough, has been looking for ways to tackle the problem. "It's brazen, not blasé, but brazen. Everything that we sell we have to account for. "We need to find ways to actually make it better, or otherwise it can potentially ruin the whole business. "Trade is not easy. Things are very tight in the economy and we don't make much money anyway." Pep Cipriano, the chief executive officer of Peterborough Positive, a business improvement area organisation, said the city was not alone in having rising rates of shoplifting. "Shoplifting in Peterborough, like most towns and cities, is on the increase. "We work really closely with the police to try and combat it and we've just got the recent announcement about new police officers coming to the city centre... which means on a daily basis we'll see more police on the street." Preston said: "There are ongoing operations taking place to deal with these issues in a concerted way – an example of which would be the 1,600 shoplifting charges brought by [Cambridgeshire Police's] south spree offending team since its creation in September 2023. "I continue to fund problem-solving posts in each of our county's community safety partnerships who are working with the police and other partners to tackle shoplifting. "The sharing of local intelligence through schemes such as Shop Watch and the provision of Safer Business packs are both helping to support retailers in preventing, responding and recovering from incidents." Det Ch Insp Christian O'Brien, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "We are doing everything we can, working with the business community and with the courts. "We're... trying to put in place criminal orders to try and prevent the people from committing the offences. "We also work with partner agencies to help the people committing these crimes, because a lot is fuelled by different addictions." Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More stories like this Shoplifting and weapons offences on the rise Pushchair shoplifter jailed for nine months Watch: Man caught with Creme Eggs stuffed in jacket Related internet links Cambridgeshire Constabulary Peterborough Positive Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner
