Riot police smash through blockade as protesters clash over migrant hotel

Tensions are flaring again outside of a migrant hotel in Essex. Protesters have caused damage to police vehicles.

Videos are circulating of protesters, many draped in the English flag, jumping on police vans driving towards the centre of the unrest.

Some witnesses have said he was run over by the car, but the circumstances are unclear. Metro has contacted Essex Police.

Most of the demonstrations earlier in the day were peaceful, but riot police were called after men, some of whom were masked, threw bottles, eggs and flour at anti-racism counter-protesters.

Chaos unfolded again when the riot police entered the area, blocked by many of the locals protesting against the hotel, where a migrant who is facing multiple sexual assault charges on a child had been staying.

Ethiopian man Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one count of harassment without violence.

Kebatu lives at the hotel and has since been remanded in custody after his hearing last week, but denies any wrongdoing.

On Sunday, a group showed up to protest, and some men launched an attack on two hotel workers who had just got off the bus to begin their shift, mistaking them for hotel residents.

Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said: ‘Disruption and offending is never an appropriate response, no matter the strength of feeling in this case, and on this issue.

‘People protesting peacefully, lawfully and responsibly cause us – and the wider public – no concern.

‘However, we can never and will never tolerate criminal violence of any sort, and anyone identified as committing a crime will be dealt with robustly.’

One Epping resident said of the protests: ‘There is a very vocal hardcore local group.

‘Most people would rather it [the hotel] was not there, that it was back as a hotel, but it is what it is, and maybe there’s a case for new arrivals to be kept somewhere more secure and be checked.’

The Bell Hotel declined to comment on the matter to Metro.

Local community leaders are still raising concerns about the hotel. Chris Whitbread, the leader of Epping Forest District Council, said they warned the Home Office that the site was ‘entirely inappropriate’.

‘Placing vulnerable individuals from a wide range of cultural backgrounds into an unsupervised setting, in the centre of a small town, without the proper infrastructure, support or services, is both reckless and unacceptable,’ he said.

‘It puts pressure on local services, causes understandable concern for residents, and is unfair on those placed in the hotel. The Home Office must now face the reality of the situation.’

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