Latest news with #BestWestern
ITV News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ITV News
Rival protesters clash outside asylum seeker hotel
Rival groups have protested outside a hotel in Greater Manchester which is housing asylum of people attended the demonstrations outside Cresta Court in Altrincham on Friday evening (August 8). The opposing groups were separated by a dual carriageway with dozens of police assembled on the central reservation of the A56 Church Street. The hotel closed last year, with all future bookings moved to alternative hotels in and around Trafford, after the owners of the venue reportedly agreed a deal with Serco. Since then, the Best Western hotel has been used as accommodation for asylum inside the hotel could be seen looking outside their windows as protesters gathered on either side of the road in front. Around 100 people had assembled on each side of the dual carriageway once the protest had got under way by around and English flags were waved on the side facing the hotels with chants of 'save our kids' and 'send them home' regularly were dressed in suits while a couple were wearing baseball caps with 'Make Britain Great Again' written on the could be heard shouting 'traitors' towards the counter-demonstration which was on the opposite side of the road. The counter-protesters, many of whom were carrying Stand Up to Racism placards, were heard chanting 'refugees are welcome here'.Several locals said they have been concerned about their safety since the hotel was turned into accommodation for asylum seekers while others were angry about the amount of money spent on housing local resident said: "We're not racist we're just worried about our kids. We don't know who they are. They've got no passports."She added: "This is not just here it's all over the country and it's about time we stood up to do it." Nahella Ashraf, co-chair of Stand Up to Racism in Greater Manchester, said counter-protesters were there to show solidarity with refugees but also to send a clear message that the rival protesters 'don't speak for us' and are 'not the majority'.She said: "The very reason they're not happy is because they're saying, 'they're refugees, we don't know where they're from'."But this used to be a hotel. People would come in. You didn't know who was staying there. Anyone can come and book into a hotel."You weren't concerned then. So you're telling me this is a legitimate concern? No it's not. It's racism at its core." The counter-demonstration had dispersed shortly after 7.30pm with most of the protesters leaving by around 8pm.A number of physical confrontations took place during the protests with at least two assaults reported to the it's not clear if any arrests were made. Greater Manchester Police has been approached for more information.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Friday night's anti-migrant protests in Norwich were peaceful - but anger is bubbling
Outside the Best Western Brook Hotel in Norwich around 300 anti-migrant protesters sang along to Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond's song about good times never feeling so good, but that wasn't their message for the migrants living inside the hotel. In a town where average rents have increased faster than the rest of England, and hospital waiting times are some of the worst in the country, many who turned out complained about the cost of housing asylum seekers. Stuart, a businessman holding a giant St George's flag, said: "I see my company paying north of a hundred thousand pounds a year in tax and the money is not going back into our system, back into our NHS, when it takes two million pounds a year to keep one hotel open." In a theme that we've seen in protests across the country, residents also spoke of their fears for women and girls. Protester Karen Williams said: "I have seen with my own eyes school children being hassled from illegal males from this hotel. Being followed, asked for their phone numbers." A man who didn't want to be named added: "That hotel could be full of terrorists. We don't know where they're from, they're undocumented males, all of a certain age. We've been invaded." Many wore T-shirts with slogans saying they were not far-right. Although a large portion of the crowd cheered when the name Tommy Robinson was hailed from the stage. The day had been dubbed "Abolish Asylum Day" with a call to action for protesters to come out across the country. Here, around 80 counter protesters also arrived on the scene and police used their vans and two lines of officers to create a green zone in the car park to separate the opposing groups. The hotel curtains were closed but no doubt the migrants inside could hear as on one side, a group determined to get rid of them, chanted, "whose streets, our streets", and sang Rule Britannia, while the other side's chants assured them: "Refugees are welcome here." Counter protester Stuart said: "It's unfair that these people are going to be intimidated like that and I want to show that not everybody in the UK thinks this way." Hayley, holding a banner which read, "save our kids from fascists", said: "I live in this area, and I see these people every day and they do nothing wrong whatsoever. "They genuinely are very sweet people who don't deserve what's happening." Another counter protester, Cate, said: "They [migrants] are not who they are made out to be." "I would trust them any day - far more than I would those people," she added, nodding towards the anti-migrant protesters. Read more: Organisers on both sides said they came in peace, and peaceful it was. But there is a bubbling anger. The Brook Hotel was taken over by the Home Office nearly three years ago and protests here, that only began this summer, are seeing their numbers grow.
CBC
01-08-2025
- Business
- CBC
Union hopeful Best Western workers accept new deal
A deal has been reached between management of Windsor's downtown Best Western Plus hotel and Unifor 195 after two months on the picket line. But to end the strike, the deal must get the green light from a majority of the hotel workers in a vote on Friday. Pratyush Dayal reports.
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Union hopeful Best Western workers accept new deal
A deal has been reached between management of Windsor's downtown Best Western Plus hotel and Unifor 195 after two months on the picket line. But to end the strike, the deal must get the green light from a majority of the hotel workers in a vote on Friday. Pratyush Dayal reports.
Daily Mail
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Protests at asylum hotels spread to Bournemouth, Norwich and Portsmouth
Protests against migrant hotels escalated this weekend with tense stand–offs in Norwich, Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Leeds. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside The Best Western Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe, Norwich, on Saturday chanting 'we want our country back' and ' Keir Starmer 's a w*****'. Police officers separated the main group from a set of counter protesters, some of whom were waving Revolutionary Communist Party flags. Three masked anti–racism activists tried to force their way in at one point, causing angry scuffles. The hotel – one of two Norwich sites used by the Home Office to house migrants – has been the focus of fury since April when a 'predatory' asylum seeker staying there was jailed for more than eight years for raping a woman. Eritrean Dan Tesfalul, 27, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, attacked his victim in the city centre after she left a nightclub and only fled when he was challenged by a security guard. Last month, another asylum seeker staying at the hotel was jailed for 20 months after admitting three attempted child sex offences and an indecent images offence. Rashid Al–Waeli, a Yemeni, tried to persuade a 14–year–old boy to send naked images of himself, a court heard. Protesters on Saturday brandished placards with pictures of both Tesfalul and Al–Waeli. 'That's what this is about,' a 54–year–old protester who live–streamed the demonstration on YouTube said. Norfolk Police said on Saturday they made two arrests following demonstrations in Norwich and Diss last week. In Portsmouth, more than 40 anti–immigration demonstrators confronted almost 30 activists holding Stand Up to Racism placards outside the Royal Beach Hotel on Friday evening. Some on the anti–immigration side hung a banner which said 'protect our children' outside the hotel. The Mail on Sunday last week revealed how a migrant named Rabie Knissi, who was staying at the hotel, was jailed for ten years in March last year after a sex attack against a woman in her 40s. Protesters also gathered outside the Chine Hotel in Bournemouth on Friday night. Demonstrators waved signs with slogans including 'bring back Rwanda', 'two–tier Keir, two–tier policing' and 'it's not racist, it's a national security risk'. When two migrants arrived with their belongings in bin bags, some chanted 'send them back'. Angry protests also took place in Leeds on Friday outside another asylum–seeker hotel, with demonstrators shouting 'get back in your rubber dinghies' to those inside. Officers made a defensive cordon as crowds waving Union Jacks surrounded the Britannia Hotel, in the city's Seacroft area. One protester said: 'Not only have they got a free hotel, they have extra bobbies looking after them.' Meanwhile, protest organisers in Epping expect 2,000 to attend a demonstration outside the town's Bell Hotel on Sunday. Sarah White, 40, said she expected it to be the biggest so far – and vowed they would continue until the hotel closes. She added: 'Women and families are terrified. People are living in fear when this is their home. They should not feel unsafe.' The protests started after an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault against a local girl. Far–Right activists have since become involved, clashing with police. The mother–of–three condemned those who 'cause trouble', saying she hoped the event would be peaceful. Essex Police said it had a 'robust policing operation in place' to deal with any disorder.
