Police and protesters clashed on Saturday as demonstrations against asylum hotels unfolded across the country.
Protesters and counterprotesters gathered for demonstrations in towns and cities around England, including Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, and Horley in Surrey, and at Canary Wharf in central London.
There were also protests at Aberdeen and Perth in Scotland, and Mold in Flintshire, Wales.
Under the Abolish Asylum System banner, anti-migrant protesters draped in union jacks gathered outside hotels and brandished signs calling for them to be emptied.
Meanwhile a series of protests organised by Stand Up to Racism saw counterdemonstrators voice support for migrants in Bristol, Cannock, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Wakefield, Horley, and Long Eaton in Derbyshire.
In Bristol, mounted police were brought in to separate rival groups in Castle Park, where officers scuffled with protesters.
A 37-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.
Avon and Somerset Police said no officer sustained serious physical injury or has required hospital treatment, but inquiries will be carried out after reports of assaults on officers.
In Liverpool there were 11 arrests for offences including being drunk and disorderly, assault and affray, as a UK Independence Party protest was met by a counter-demonstration.
The demonstrations came amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to fulfil Labour’s pledge to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in the UK.
The use of asylum hotels has increased in the past year under Labour, with critics warning that they are becoming flashpoints in communities and trapping migrants in limbo.
On Tuesday, the High Court granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction to remove asylum seekers from the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, from 12 September. The judgment, which the Home Office is to appeal, followed a series of violent protests that resulted in multiple arrests and saw police officers injured.
Nigel Farage has led opposition to the use of asylum hotels, calling for demonstrators across the country to stage similar protests to those seen in Epping.
On Saturday, he set out plans for mass deportations if he becomes prime minister. Arresting asylum seekers on arrival, automatic detention, and forced deportation to countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea are among the proposals expected to be announced by Mr Farage on Tuesday.
They are also expected to include deals with third countries, which could include reviving the Conservatives’ Rwanda link-up, and sending asylum seekers to British overseas territories such as Ascension Island as a “fallback” option.
Mr Farage said the plans could see hundreds of thousands of people deported and five charter flights taking off from the UK every day.
The first step in Reform UK’s plans would be to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and scrap the Human Rights Act. These actions would be followed by legislation to bar those who come to the UK on small boats from claiming asylum.
“The aim of this legislation is mass deportations,” Clacton MP Mr Farage told The Times. “We have a massive crisis in Britain. It is not only posing a national security threat but it’s leading to public anger that frankly is not very far away from disorder.
“There is only one way to stop people coming into Britain, and that is to detain them and deport them.”
Labour has vowed to end the use of asylum hotels by the next general election by moving migrants into alternative accommodation and clearing the backlog of asylum claims and appeals.
In Horley, around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in St George and union flags clashed with roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Bonehurst Road.
The anti-racism protesters chanted “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”, and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”.
They were met with a torrent of abuse from the anti-migration group, one of whom yelled through a megaphone: “You’re all scum and you should be ashamed” and “This wasn’t about racism”.
The two groups almost came together in the early afternoon, with lines of police separating them.
The Stand Up to Racism protesters were shepherded into a smaller area as they continued to chant “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”, which was met with a riposte of “No they’re f***ing not” from the other side of the street.
The government announced plans on Friday to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow it to intervene in the case involving Epping Forest District Council, and to further appeal against the temporary injunction.
Other local councils also publicly announced their intention to seek legal advice as to whether they could achieve a similar injunction for hotels in their areas.
