Essex police boss demands to meet Yvette Cooper over migrant hotel

Telegraph

7 hours ago

A police boss has demanded an urgent meeting with Yvette Cooper on Monday to seek the closure of the Epping asylum hotel at the centre of recent protests.
Roger Hirst, the police and crime commissioner for Essex, said The Bell Hotel was an inappropriate location for asylum seekers and was costing his force 'hundreds of thousands of pounds' in officer overtime to police the protests.
Hundreds of officers from Essex, the Metropolitan Police and forces across England were deployed on Sunday to police about 1,000 protesters who converged on the hotel.
Essex imposed restrictions on the protests that required pro and anti-migrant groups to be separated on designated sites and banned anyone from wearing face coverings.
A dispersal order runs from 12pm on Sunday until 8am on Monday, covering Epping town centre and nearby transport hubs. It gives officers the power to remove anyone suspected of anti-social behaviour.
The Bell has become a target for protests after a resident Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl days after arriving in the UK. Ten people have been arrested after violence flared 10 days ago.
Mr Hirst said: 'The Bell is not the right place for a hotel for asylum seekers. It's in the middle of a home counties market town and these are people who have a very different life experience arriving there. There are schools in the vicinity as well. It is not the right place.
'It's costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. It's a lot of police overtime. This is not what we need to be happening on a regular basis in the town. It's a diversion of resources from what police officers should be doing.'
It follows similar calls for the hotel's closure from Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader and Essex MP, and Chris Whitbread, the Epping council leader, who said it had become a 'focus and battleground' for extremist groups.
Tommy Robinson, the political activist whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said on his X account on July 20 that he was 'coming to Epping next Sunday ... and bringing thousands more with me', but did not make the journey.
Around 400 anti-migrant protesters were the first to gather outside the hotel before counter-demonstrators comprising pro-Palestine groups, unions and anti-racism campaigners arrived around an hour later at 3pm and were directed to a field nearby.
Officers from as many as 30 police forces are believed to have been involved including Merseyside, Surrey, Lancashire, the City of London and Sussex were in attendance.
The counter-demonstrators signs included: 'Don't let the far-Right divide us with their hatred, ' while anti-migrant protesters chanted: 'Protect our kids,' and 'Keir Starmer is a w-----.'
Sarah White, 40, one of the protest organisers, said she would continue demonstrations until the hotel closed. The mother of three 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 and 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, who has lived in Epping for 50 years, said she felt 'under threat'.
She said: 'I have grandchildren living locally. We want this closed and we won't stop until it is. It's shocking.'
Police said three people were arrested: a 52 year-old man on suspicion of a public order offence; a 53 year-old woman for racially aggravated abuse; and a 27 year-old woman on suspicion of criminal damage and a public order offence.
In Canary Wharf, around 150 protesters gathered on Sunday near the Britannia International Hotel in London's financial district, to which the Home Office plans to send asylum seekers.
The 'silent protest' had been scheduled to start near the four-star hotel at 3pm, with online graphics reading: 'Save our kids, stop the boats,' and 'Everyone welcome. Stand in unity, make your voice heard – silently.'
Two men have been charged with public order offences after a protest outside a hotel in Diss, Norfolk Constabulary has said. They were arrested on Saturday after police reviewed footage from both sides of a protest that took place on Denmark Street on Monday, the force said.
James Harvey, 22, of Linden Drive, Hethersett, has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence. Luke Sharman, 23, of Harcourt Close, Norwich, has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence and possession of cannabis.