Protests spread across UK as police admit drawing rival groups together

London: Police are being blamed for bringing rival protesters together at a violent clash over asylum seekers in a small town north of London, heightening an explosive dispute about where to house thousands of people crossing the English Channel.

Essex Police admitted they escorted refugee advocates towards a hotel being used to house asylum seekers, just as anti-migrant demonstrators gathered outside the venue to demand its closure.

Police officers run at protesters near the Bell Hotel in Epping on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

The admission about the demonstrations in Epping Forest, where protests have turned violent over several nights, came as crowds gathered outside a similar asylum hotel in Norfolk in a bid to stop it housing single young migrant men.

With the angry scenes making headlines for days, those opposed to the hotels are using social media to identify venues that are housing the new arrivals, spreading word of future protests.

The Norfolk protest began after Britain’s Home Office told the local council that the asylum hotel in Diss, a small town south of Norwich, would stop housing women and children and start housing single young men instead.

Dozens of people gathered along the road near the hotel on Monday evening, local time, leading to fears that Britain will be rocked by a summer of riots because of widespread concern about the asylum hotels.

By Tuesday night – the early hours of Wednesday in Australia – reports were spreading online that a major hotel in the Canary Wharf district of London was being used to house hundreds of asylum seekers.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage – who has vowed to “stop the boats” if he were to become prime minister – reposted a message from one of his party’s MPs, Lee Anderson, saying the hotel was preparing for an influx of asylum seekers. Farage has 2.2 million followers on X.

Hours later, the Britannia International Hotel at Canary Wharf was the scene of competing protests from refugee advocates and opponents, with police surrounding the hotel.

Blood runs down the cheek of an officer following a scuffle with protesters outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, England. Credit: Getty Images

The Tower Hamlets Council, the local authority for the area, confirmed in a statement that the hotel would be used to house asylum seekers.

“We are aware of the government’s decision to use the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers,” it said in a statement.

Farage seized on the events at the Epping asylum hotel to call on police to explain their actions with the Refugees Welcome group.

“Essex Police escorted ANTIFA protesters to the Bell Hotel in Epping to force a confrontation,” he said on X.

“Initially, they denied that it had ever happened in the first place. Heads must roll.”

A man holds an English flag during the Epping protest on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

The video of the event shows police walking quietly with refugee advocates along the street, with no sign of the violence sometimes associated with anti-fascist groups.

The video does not show police forcing protesters towards each other. The London Telegraph reported the video was taken at the protest last Thursday night.

The protests at Epping were larger and more violent on Sunday night, when an estimated 1000 people gathered in the town and around the asylum hotel.

While some Epping residents blamed the violence on outsiders, Essex Police confirmed they had charged five men over violent disorder. Two of those named live in the town, two nearby and one in Wickford, also in Essex.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to find more ways to discourage boat arrivals across the channel, but he declared there was “lots of housing available” for British people needing homes as well as the asylum seekers.

When he was asked in a parliamentary committee whether councils were competing with the Home Office to provide homes for local people or for asylum seekers, Starmer sought to blame the previous government for failing to stop the arrivals.

“I am so furious at the last government for leaving tens of thousands of asylum seekers unprocessed, with nowhere to live, other than accommodation paid for by the taxpayer,” he said.

Crowds outside the Bell Hotel in Epping on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

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