The people of Epping are fed up of being ignored
This time, though, the expression of public fury at migration failures was not in 'left-behind' northern towns like Hull or Hartlepool – or even like last month in Ballymena, where tight-knit loyalist communities have a history of kicking off to defend their interests. Thursday's protests – and later clashes – at an asylum hotel were in the quiet Essex market town of Epping, population 12,000, mentioned in the Domesday Book and a well-heeled part of the London commuter belt at the terminus of the Central Line.
The trigger was an alleged sexual assault by a migrant. On 7 July, Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker, is alleged to have tried to kiss a schoolgirl as she ate pizza on Epping high street. He had arrived in the UK via a small boat only eight days previously. He has denied three charges of sexual assault across two days, and the protests coincided with his appearance in court for a hearing ahead of a two-day trial next month. He spoke via an interpreter, and according to the prosecution has 'no ties to anyone or any place in the UK'.
The site of the protests was the Bell Hotel, where Kebatu had been living. Having been used to house male asylum seekers in Epping for several years, and sitting less than 500 yards from a coeducational secondary school, it was already a major local grievance. Following the alleged sexual assault, the leader of Epping Forest District Council called for the Home Office to close the asylum hotel 'without delay'. He was joined two local Tory MPs – Epping Forest's Neil Hudson and Alex Burghart of Brentwood and Ongar.
Commentator Adam Brooks, who was at the protest, reported to GB News that it began entirely peacefully – 'great-natured' with grandparents and children. 'People attended the earlier protest and did so peacefully, lawfully and responsibly', an Essex Police official said, adding: 'I'd like to thank them for expressing their views this way given the strength of feeling locally.'
In Brook's view, it was only when so-called anti-racism protestors arrived and were allowed to march by the demonstration, flanked by police, that tensions flared, with many local youths coming out to confront them. Some were later escorted away in riot vans.
During the Southport riots last year, it was often claimed that much of the disorder was the result of opportunist 'thugs' who had arrived from out of town to stir up trouble. At yesterday's protest, it seems it was after the arrival of these left-wing protestors, often masked and with 'Refugees Welcome' placards, that disorder began.
While Essex Police made a point of describing earlier protestors as 'legitimately protesting', there is evidence of apparent harsh police treatment of some involved. In social media footage, one police van appears to hit a man and push him down the street before he gets out the way.
Another clip shows a man confronting police apparently being hit in the face with a riot shield. Essex Police said it believed several suspects were responsible for damaging police vehicles, the hotel, preventing access to Epping High Road, and assaulting officers, with one left with a minor injury to the neck. 'We know the people who carried out these crimes do not represent Epping or Essex', it added.
While parts of the press are presenting those involved as 'far-right supporters', or an 'anti-immigrant mob', in footage of protesters, they seem more to be ordinary locals who are simply fed up with being ignored by the political class. 'We're good, local, taxpaying people' says a smartly dressed mother-of-three in a speech through a megaphone, standing on the back of a van adorned with St. George's crosses. Why were the police 'allowing agitators to come and fight against us?' she asks, eliciting a cheer, before voicing her typical concerns about illegal migration.
Unvetted men are coming across the channel every day who 'don't share our values', she said, who 'don't respect women' and 'don't respect children'. The UK, she laments, is 'a soft touch' for migrants. Apparently entirely impromptu, her speech is heartfelt, patriotic, and potent: 'Every child's right is to walk to school and not fear that they are going to be sexually assaulted or raped. We do not live in a third world country. This is the United Kingdom the last time I looked.'
This fed up, outspoken Essex mum doesn't care that the 'anti-racism' types and left-wing media will try and smear people like her: if she's 'far-right' for standing up for schoolgirls' safety, she says, 'then so be it'.
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Spectator
4 hours ago
- Spectator
The state will do anything but fix the migrant crisis
Migrant hotel protests are erupting across the country, as 'tinderbox' Britain catches fire. What began with a series of protests in Epping, Essex, over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a recently arrived Ethiopian migrant, has now spread, as Brits air long-standing grievances about asylum seekers they have been forced to host in their own communities. A powerful tendency now exists in the British state towards displacement activity Demonstrations have so far been reported in Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth, Norwich, Leeds and Wolverhampton, Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, Altrincham and even at Canary Wharf in London. With years of unaddressed anger rapidly making themselves felt, the police, pulled in all directions, are struggling to keep up. 'Local commanders are once again being forced to choose between keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps', admits the head of the Police Federation. Still, it seems there is one thing the government is more than happy to devote resources to: trawling the internet for anti-migrant sentiment. The Telegraph reports that an elite team of police officers convened by the Home Office is set to monitor social media to flag up early signs of unrest. Working out of the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in Westminster the new National Internet Intelligence Investigations team will 'maximise social media intelligence' gathering in order to 'help local forces manage public safety threats and risks'. If this new division was just about intelligence-gathering that would be one thing. It's true that social media is in invaluable resource for following events on the ground at such gatherings, while local Facebook groups are often where grassroots protests are organised. Yet we know that when it comes to the British state and social media, censorship and punishment for online speech is never far behind. Ever since Sir Keir Starmer repeatedly linked the Southport unrest last year with social media, the idea has firmly taken root in Whitehall that the best way to stop unrest is to aggressively police the internet. Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, already takes this view, and the link has even been drawn in Department for Education guidance on how to talk to schoolchildren about the Southport disorder. In a recent report, the police inspectorate said that that forces must be 'better prepared and resourced to monitor, analyse, use and respond to online content', which it argues was a risk to public safety. This general zeal for social-media policing is why Big Brother Watch believes the new unit is very likely to infringe on free speech. The investigations team is 'Orwellian' and 'disturbing', says interim director Rebecca Vincent, creating the possibility that it 'will attempt to interfere with online content' as other government bodies are known to have done during Covid. As if there weren't enough threats to free speech already. This week age verification provisions in the latest stage of the Online Safety Act (OSA) kicked in, meaning that some footage of protests is now inaccessible on social media for many users. Not even parliamentary privilege is safe from the censorship regime. Katie Lam's searing April speech on the rape gangs, in which she quoted court transcripts and survivors, could not be watched on X without age verification. We are beginning to look like North Korea with rainbow flags: for the public's 'safety', footage exposing grievous failures of the British state now cannot be viewed in the UK. Little wonder, given the OSA explicitly earmarks content relating to 'child sexual abuse' and 'illegal immigration and people smuggling' as the 'kinds of illegal content and activity that platforms need to protect users from'. The Conservatives, who bequeathed us this blank cheque for digital authoritarianism, certainly need to take a long, hard look at themselves. The claims that the OSA is merely about restricting access to pornography has been exposed as a mere fig leaf. And still things could still get worse. As the Free Speech Union has noted, shortly after last year's riots, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a pro-censorship lobby group with ties to Morgan McSweeney, 'hosted a closed-door meeting under the Chatham House rule to discuss the role of social media in civil unrest'. In attendance were officials from the Home Office, the Department of Science, Information and Technology, Ofcom and other organisations. The CCDH proposals that emerged included amending the OSA to 'grant Ofcom additional 'emergency response' powers to fight 'misinformation' that poses a 'threat' to 'national security' and 'the health or safety of the public''. This would give Secretary of State Peter Kyle the ability to directly flag unapproved content to be taken down at a time of 'crisis'. Should the unrest continue this could well be coming down the track. What all this illustrates is just how ill-equipped the people in charge are to deal with Britain's problems, as The Spectator's Madeline Grant noted earlier this week. A powerful tendency now exists in the British state towards displacement activity. Spin doctors 'manage' the news. Police surveil social media. The government shuffles asylum seekers from hotel to hotel, or to HMOs, or even to privately rented accommodation (which it uses your own taxes to outbid you for). For his part, the prime minister has been tweeting about the women's football. As the unrest grows, leading politicians continue doggedly insist that Britain remains a 'a successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith country'. In reality, there are answers to the asylum hotels crisis, it's just that the government simply lacks the will to act. Large numbers of illegal migrants need to be deported, while those that are here should be placed in a secure holding facility somewhere remote. What is surely obvious by now where they should not be: in hotels, in an Essex market town 500 yards from a school; on the Bournemouth beachfront; in the London's financial district; in a Leeds suburb right next to a shopping centre. As it is, however, it seems the regime will try anything and everything before addressing people's real concerns.
North Wales Chronicle
9 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Protesters stage demo outside hotel used to house migrants
Sunday saw the latest in a series of demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. Protesters waved union flags, while Stand Up To Racism counter-protesters marched to the hotel with signs reading: 'Stop scapegoating refugees and migrants'. Weyman Bennett, co-convener of Stand Up To Racism, told the PA news agency that volunteer security personnel accompanied them. He added: 'We're happy to demonstrate but we're not happy to be attacked by thugs, racists and hooligans.' One man was seen being taken away from the station area by two officers, though it was not clear if he was part of any group. Members of Stand Up To Racism were seen trying to stop people from filming the protesters, as locals watched the march from their driveways. One local man was seen chanting in support of Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as the march went past. He began shouting 'there's only one Tommy Robinson' when a protester approached him. One Stand Up To Racism protester chanted 'fascist scum' at him before police stepped in to ensure they would not come together. Essex Police said it had established protest restrictions due to repeated serious disruption, violence, and harm to the community during previous demonstrations. The force said that there was a ban on anyone wearing face coverings and that there were designated sites opposite the hotel for protesters. A dispersal order was in effect from 12pm on Sunday until 8am on Monday, covering Epping town centre and nearby transport hubs. Both sets of protesters were kept separated by fences. Those protesting outside The Bell Hotel in Epping chose to ignore counter-demonstrators and began singing. They sang Sweet Caroline and Come On Eileen while demonstrators from Stand Up To Racism chanted 'Nazi scum off our streets'. Essex Police said that residents have reported feeling 'trapped', fearful of leaving their homes and anxious about protest activity previously. Hotel residents and staff have been advised to remain indoors after 5pm as some have experienced verbal and physical harassment, including a resident chased and injured while returning to the hotel, the force added. Essex Police said there was an 'escalation of violence' during protests on July 13, 17, 20 and 24, involving hundreds of people. The force added that officers were assaulted, missiles were thrown, vehicles were vandalised and the hotel sustained broken windows and graffiti. The Epping protest was sparked by the charging of asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, with sexual assault after he allegedly attempted to kiss a 14-year-old girl. He denied the charge at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court and will stand trial in August.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Now shut migrant protest hotel: As demonstrators clash again in Epping, Tories demand that Labour listen to local concerns and move asylum seekers
Labour faced mounting pressure last night to shut the asylum hotel at the centre of angry protests. But ministers stayed silent as senior Tories joined demands for migrants to be removed from The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, over 'legitimate' concerns about crime. As frustrated organisers of the growing demonstrations said they would not stop until it was closed, fresh clashes broke out outside the hotel yesterday, despite a heavy police presence to separate rival groups of protesters. The demonstrations were triggered after Ethiopian man Hadush Kebatu was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl just days after he arrived in Britain in a Channel dinghy. Police chiefs have already described the unrest at The Bell as a 'signal flare' for another summer of disorder. Epping Council voted unanimously last week to urge the Government to close it. But Treasury minister James Murray refused to comment yesterday when asked why the Government has not listened to the demands. He told Sky News: 'I'm not going to comment on specific cases, but I do understand people's frustration. 'And whilst, obviously, there can never be any place for criminal violence, there's absolutely a right for people to protest about this.' It came after polling found that immigration has overtaken the economy to become voters' biggest concern about the country after the NHS. The survey by Opinium found 49 per cent of people put immigration among their top three concerns – a seven-point increase since May. Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer could also come under pressure to act from Donald Trump when they meet in Scotland today, after the US President said he had 'sealed our borders' in America and urged Europe to follow suit. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Mail: 'Ministers must recognise the strength of feeling from the public about this hotel, listen to their genuine and real concerns, and shut it down. 'The Government has lost control of our borders. They need to listen to the public anger on this issue and deport all illegal immigrants immediately upon arrival. 'I am furious we are being overwhelmed by illegal immigrants. What has happened at The Bell is a consequence of that.' Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said 'agitators' were coming in to whip up trouble, telling GB News: 'The Conservatives have been calling for that hotel to be closed down, because you have to show people there is a response when they have legitimate concerns.' Kebatu, 38, is due to be tried for allegedly trying to kiss a schoolgirl as she ate pizza in Epping on July 7, eight days after he arrived in the UK. He denies sexual assault, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and a charge of harassment. There were more ugly scenes outside The Bell yesterday when up to 1,000 demonstrators clashed. Around 400 protesting against the migrants – mostly locals – gathered after lunch, with counter-protesters, including of pro-Palestine groups and trade unions, arriving at around 4pm, and staying for barely an hour. Despite police from 31 forces including Merseyside and Lancashire separating them, at least three people were arrested. Sarah White, 40, who organised the protest against the hotel, said: 'We won't stop. Today has been a great opportunity for our voices to be heard. We've got the message out there that we don't want these hotels. 'This, I think, has been the biggest – there's more to come. We need to feel safe – we don't currently. It's shocking. We won't stop until that hotel is closed.' Maureen Chapman, 73, said she felt 'under threat', adding: 'I have grandchildren living locally. We want this closed and we won't stop until it is. Despite police from 31 forces including Merseyside and Lancashire separating them, at least three people were arrested 'These people moaning, would they want it at the end of their street?' The Home Office said: 'The Government is reducing expensive hotel use as part of a complete overhaul of the asylum system. 'From over 400 asylum hotels in summer 2023, costing almost £9million a day, there are now less than 210. We want them all closed by the end of this Parliament. 'People rightly want to see a robust and effective asylum system and we have a duty to support people who would otherwise be destitute and sleeping rough while their case is decided.'
