Mother arrested at Epping hotel protest feared she would be ‘the next Lucy Connolly’ – and says she is standing for Reform

A mother-of-five said she feared she would be ‘the next Lucy Connolly’ after being arrested outside Epping District Council offices during an anti-immigration protest.

Sarah White was arrested by several officers and then placed in the back of a van when she displayed a Union Jack from the building’s steps on Sunday. 

Police stressed she was arrested and placed in the back of a police car for not obeying the restrictions in place for the protest, which attracted hundreds of people.

Sarah is one of the key organisers of demonstrations against asylum seekers being housed in The Bell Hotel, which were sparked by the sexual assault of a girl by a resident, who has since been found guilty. 

And more recently, Epping District Council announced it would take its case to shut down the Bell Hotel to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary High Court injunction which would have forced the 138 asylum seekers there to leave by September 12.

Now the dog care firm owner, who has claimed she is a candidate for Reform UK, has revealed she was ‘scared’ during her night in the police cells, saying she could hear ‘shouting and screaming’ all night.

Describing the moment, the van began driving away, she told The Telegraph: ‘It’s like, am I going to be the next Lucy Connolly? Because I’ve done nothing wrong. What is going on here?’

While her daughter was ‘distraught’, her son questioned her, asking if she really needed to continue protesting against the migrant hotel. But Sarah was adamant that she must go on for future generations. 

Campaigner Sarah White is arrested outside The Civic Offices during a protest against housing of asylum seekers at The Bell Hotel in Epping on August 31

Footage shows Sarah White holding the flag above an entrance to Epping District Council’s Civic Centre at 7.15pm on Sunday 

The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, that has been used to house asylum seekers 

The mother-of-five said she feared she would be ‘the next Lucy Connolly’ after being arrested outside Epping District Council offices during an anti-immigration protest (Pictured: Protesters in Epping)

‘I feel compelled to carry on,’ she said. ‘Getting arrested is ultimately not what I want. I don’t want to be away from my children. But ultimately, if I don’t stand up then who [will]?’ 

Previously, Sarah was apolitical and didn’t always head out to the polling stations, but, since feeling a threat on the ‘freedom of choice’ since COVID, she has catapulted herself into politics, claiming she has signed up to become a Reform candidate. 

Discussing how there was no Reform option last Summer, she said: ‘I had that urge inside me. Right, if there’s no one to do it, I’ll do it. I came straight home, filled out the form.’

Describing Reform voters as a ‘diverse’ group of people, she proudly added: ‘It’s all women in our Epping Forest branch.’ 

And although Nigel Farage has made a bid to great distance between Reform and the far-Right label, White doesn’t shy away from it, saying they aren’t far Right but doing ‘what’s right’. 

‘I don’t care if someone labels me as far-Right because what they’re saying is irrelevant and they’re only words’ 

Adding how she was not a Nazi nor ‘looking to kill people’, Sarah maintained she sought to protect her community. 

Crowds march towards the Civic Centre offices in Epping during the latest anti-migrant protest on August 31 

‘I feel compelled to carry on,’ she said. ‘Getting arrested is ultimately not what I want. I don’t want to be away from my children. But ultimately, if I don’t stand up then who [will]?’ (Pictured: The Bell Hotel) 

Epping became an epicentre of protests that swept the country last month after a migrant resident was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. He has since been found guilty

‘How can that label me as far-Right? If as a mother you want to stop women and children getting sexually assaulted…’ 

It comes after the mother-of-five gave her first interview to the Daily Mail just minutes after being released from custody on Monday, where she dubbed her arrest ‘an absolute disgrace. 

‘I am considering legal action against the police. I was one click away from my arm being broken. It’s disgusting,’ she said at the time.

‘I cannot believe what happened. I believe I was targeted and they wanted to make an example of me.’

She added: ‘I had given a speech about how Epping residents will plan to refuse to pay our council tax because the migrants are still at the hotel.

‘Minutes later, I placed the flag at the council office. At a lot of the protests we’ve been there. That’s been part of it.’

The mother claimed she was ‘manhandled by several officers’.

‘I’ve only just been released, it’s nearly been 24 hours,’ Sarah, who has now been bailed, said.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said her arrest was ‘categorically not for flying a Union Flag’, but because the Civic Centre was not an area where protesters were allowed. Two other men were arrested on the same night.

Anti-migrant protesters scuffle with police near the Bell Hotel in Epping on Sunday

Sarah added: ‘I’m still in a state of shock. I knew they would hold me for nearly 24 hours.’

She added: ‘I feel like a political prisoner in a way. They tried to make an example of me.

‘I will not stop expressing my view and sharing concerns. I am still campaigning.

‘When I was in the van, I heard on the radio that the female prisoner should be de-arrested. That was me. I thought I was being released.

‘Then there was another call to say change of plan, and I was taken into custody. It’s been unbelievable.’

Earlier that evening, protesters stood behind metal barriers across the road from the Bell Hotel, waving at passing cars that sounded their horns.

Police officers watched on, with more waiting in vans on surrounding roads.

The Daily Mail has approached Reform UK and Essex Police for further comment.