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.
Scenes at the Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe on the edge of Norwich on Saturday
Pictured: Groups of protestors clash outside the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea, Portsmouth
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside The Best Western Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe, Norwich, on Saturday
Some were 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
The hotel – one of two Norwich sites used by the Home Office to house migrants – has been the focus of fury since April
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.
Members of a pro–refugee counter demonstration wave signs and chant by the Brook Hotel in Norwich on Saturday
Pictured: Groups of protestors clash outside the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea
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
The Mail on Sunday 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
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.
