Essex Police directly facilitated migrant unrest. Heads must roll

Telegraph

4 days ago

The recent events from the Bell Hotel in Epping have been extraordinary. Following an alleged assault of a 14-year-old girl by an illegal migrant housed in the hotel, many local women, children and families who were understandably concerned for their own safety turned out to protest.
Ordinary, decent people with reasonable concerns organised peacefully to stand up for their communities. And for that, the people of Epping must be commended.
However, the narrative spun by the mainstream media is that the protest turned violent as a result of out-of-town far-Right thugs. Whilst undoubtedly some did turn up, the footage that emerged on Tuesday blew this story wide open.
Despite Essex Police initially trying to cover it up, new footage showed hard-Left groups such as Stand Up to Racism and Antifa being given the red carpet treatment, with the force literally escorting and bussing masked thugs around at the protest.
Unsurprisingly, soon after their arrival the violent scenes we've seen across the media erupted.
There's no doubt in my mind that, through their actions, Essex Police directly facilitated the unrest we saw. They have been caught red-handed helping to light the fuse that led to violence. This is simply unacceptable.
It's nothing short of an extraordinary and disgraceful act. Surely, the positions of chief constable Ben-Julian Harrington and police and the crime commissioner are now untenable. How could they stay in post when their force has been almost complicit in encouraging an escalation that put the safety and wellbeing of ordinary, honest people at risk?
Whilst the media continues to portray genuine local people who turned out to protest as out-of-town far-right thugs, it turns out the police have been ferrying actual protestors from outside the area. Many of whom were masked and intent on creating violence.
Of course, at the very root of the problem lies successive governments' inability to control our borders. Both Labour and the Conservatives have allowed hundreds of thousands illegal migrants to flood into this country.
Over 20,000 illegal migrants have crossed the Channel in 2025 alone. This is almost 50 per cent higher than the same point last year. Labour's indifference to this issue has meant that we're on for a record year – 44,000 people have come over since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.
Impossible to check and vet
These migrants, predominantly men of fighting age, are often impossible to check and vet. As soon as they wash up on our shores they are dumped into hotels and HMOs [House in Multiple Occupation] in the hearts of our communities. Coming from often alien cultures, these men pose a serious risk to British women and children. In some cases, it has been found that we are importing genuine terrorists who wish to destroy us and our way of life.
To compound the problem, Lefty lawyers use and abuse human rights law to keep these people in Britain. Until the Government acknowledges that our membership of the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] is hampering our ability to provide the most basic level of security to our people, this problem will persist. No one should underestimate the anger in the country.
Essex Police's actions in Epping are yet another example of two-tier policing in Labour's Britain. When coppers are happy to brazenly escort the hard-Left to a peaceful protest, in the full knowledge that they want to cause trouble, it's no wonder that the public feel they can no longer trust law enforcement to act in their best interests.
Without trust, law and order in this country is a pipe dream. No wonder Britain is lawless, when it appears those tasked with keeping the peace are doing the exact opposite. This isn't just another scandal; this is a wake-up call. Heads at Essex Police must roll.