Anti-migrant protesters faced off with counter-demonstrators across the country today as police brace for a weekend of rallies.
Crowds waving Union flags clashed with others taking part in Stand Up To Racism rallies outside migrant hotels in Portsmouth, Orpington, Leicester, Chichester, Ashford and Cardiff on Friday evening.
Dozens of police officers have been deployed from several forces to separate the groups, with hundreds of people taking part in the rallies on both sides.
Protests at up to 30 hotels are believed to be planned as communities seek to replicate the ruling for The Bell Hotel, which, pending an appeal, must be closed within weeks.
The hotel had been at the centre of protests after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl, which he denies.
Hotels in Cannock and Tamworth are among those expected to be targeted by demonstrations, with anti-racism groups already organising counter-protests in 15 locations across the three-day Bank Holiday weekend.
One protester in Portsmouth tied a large flag of St George to the balcony which had on it the words ‘Born in England, Live in England, Die in England’.
The counter protesters also put up a banner, saying ‘Refugees Welcome, Celebrate Diversity’.
Protester Mat Silva, 66, a retired car sprayer from Fareham, said: ‘I am fed up seeing those who come into our country illegally being housed better than our veterans and our OAPs.
‘They get free accommodation, gas, electricity, four meals a day, while our veterans are on the street.’
He added: ‘Look how many millions it’s costing each day – if they are genuine asylum seekers or refugees coming in the right way with passports, then fair enough, it’s nothing to do with racism, it’s about people entering illegally.’
A woman who did not want to give her name said: ‘Family homes are being turned into houses of multiple occupancy. We have to live in an area where there are more and more new immigrants.’
Rita, from Portsmouth, who joined the Stand Up To Racism counter protest, said: ‘I am sick and tired of being someone who defends rapists and paedophiles, what I defend is human rights.
A woman who did not want to give her name said: ‘Family homes are being turned into houses of multiple occupancy. We have to live in an area where there are more and more new immigrants.’
A woman who did not want to give her name said: ‘Family homes are being turned into houses of multiple occupancy. We have to live in an area where there are more and more new immigrants.’
‘I feel ashamed (at the protest) and I say this as a white British elderly lady who has been spat upon, verbally abused and things thrown at, just for being on this side of the road.
‘I am angry that my Christianity is being used as a weapon by the right and to be used in the name of fascism.’
Mary, from Portsmouth, said: ‘I believe in dignity, equality and giving people a fair chance.
‘We have all come from somewhere originally, I am from Northern Ireland and we all came from Africa originally.
‘I am really upset at the violent way in which these other people are intimidating people who have fled intimidation all of their lives and are facing it here again, it’s completely wrong.’
Police enforced a gap between the two groups as the anti-immigrant group chanted: ‘Send them home’ while the counter group chanted: ‘Refugees are welcome here’.
Portsmouth City Council previously told the Home Office it did not have capacity to take any more asylum seekers – only for hundreds to be moved into the city centre without their knowledge.
The authority found that 55 private rental properties were being used to house a minimum of three asylum seekers each last week.
The migrants have been staying in homes of multiple occupation (HMO) – not council housing.
It came just two years after James Hill, Portsmouth’s director of housing, told the Home Office that the ‘system’s capacity was such that we couldn’t support additional asylum seekers’.
But when a public meeting was hosted in July by Amanda Martin, the Labour MP for Portsmouth North, figures showed the number of private rentals being used to house migrants had increased from 10 at the end of 2019 to 58 in April 2024, the Times first reported.
The council confirmed with the Home Office last week that the number is now at 55, according to the newspaper.
The data was uncovered by Ms Martin after Clearsprings Ready Homes wrote to a parliamentary committee this year amid an inquiry into accommodation for asylum seekers.
Portsmouth City Council said it was never notified about the use of the properties to house migrants.
Protests are also taking place outside hotels in Leicester, Orpington, Cardiff and Chichester.
A large crown chanting ‘Send them home’ gathered outside The Park Hotel in the Sussex cathedral city has been a focal point for protest since it was turned over the Home Office in 2023.
Anti-immigration campaigners are looking to ride on the back of this week’s landmark judgment that saw the High Court order the removal of migrants from a hotel in Epping, Essex.
On Tuesday, a judge granted a temporary injunction against migrants being housed at The Bell Hotel after Epping Forest council argued that it was necessary for ‘the safety of nearby residents’ and to reduce the threat of ‘violent protests’.
The local authority had sought legal action after the accommodation site had been at the centre of protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker was charged with trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl, which he denies.
The ruling threatens to collapse Labour’s asylum system as protesters take to the streets and councils across the country prepare to hit the Home Office with copycat litigation over the use of hotels in their areas.
But anti-racism groups have warned the ruling sets a ‘dangerous precedent’, with Stand Up To Racism saying that it will ’embolden the far-Right to call more protests outside hotels housing refugees’.
The Home Office announced on Friday that it will seek to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow it to intervene in the case, and to then further appeal against the temporary injunction.
Yvette Cooper said ministers are working to close hotels housing asylum seekers ‘as swiftly as possible’ as part of an ‘orderly’ programme that avoids creating problems for other areas.
‘That is the reason for the Home Office appeal in this case, to ensure that going forward, the closure of all hotels can be done in a properly managed way right across the country – without creating problems for other areas and local councils,’ she said.
Somani Hotels, the owner of the Bell Hotel in Epping, also plans to appeal against the court order blocking the use of its hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers.
Responding to the Government’s legal bid, Epping Forest District Council’s finance chief Holly Whitbread said the move was ‘deeply disappointing’.
She said: ‘I hope that the Court of Appeal will make the right decision in upholding the decision of the High Court.
‘It’s not a piecemeal court decision, it’s a decision on a planning point.’
‘The Government keep churning out the line that they’re going to get all the hotels closed by the end of this Parliament. Our community can’t afford to wait another four years.’
An Epping Forest District Council spokesperson added: ‘We have no details at this stage but are disappointed it appears the Home Office hasn’t accepted the refusal of Mr Justic Eyre of permission to appeal against the dismissal by the judge of the Secretary of State’s application to be a party to the council’s claim against Somani Hotels Ltd, owners of the Bell Hotel.’
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘It is completely wrong that the Labour Government is taking legal action to keep open the Bell Hotel.
‘The Government isn’t listening to the public or to the courts.
‘Instead of trying to keep illegal immigrants in expensive hotels, the Conservatives would remove all illegal arrivals, put in place a real deterrent and ensure towns like Epping are never put in this position again.’
In a video posted to X earlier today, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: ‘So, a huge victory, Epping, the Bell Hotel, people protested, they won a court case, the migrant hotel will close.
‘And that of course is now leading all over the country to other communities standing up, protesting, demanding their hotels are closed as well.
‘Well, the news today, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is going to fight that court order to demand that the Bell Hotel and other migrant hotels stay open across this country.
‘Ask yourself a question. Whose side is this Government on? Is it on your side or is it on the side of young, undocumented males coming into Britain, too many of whom, frankly, assault our young women?’