- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 14,940
- Points
- 113
FILE - A police officer reacts as demonstrators hold placards and banners as they leave a protest outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, near London, Sunday, July 27, 2025.
A hotel near London that has become the focus of heated anti-migrant protests in recent weeks will have to remove asylum-seekers who are staying there after authorities won a legal bid Tuesday to oust the migrants.
Officials from the Epping Forest District Council asked a judge to issue an order to temporarily block migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, due to “unprecedented levels of protest and disruption” over asylum-seeker accommodation.
Thousands of people, some chanting “save our kids” and “send them home," have protested near the hotel after an asylum-seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has denied charges against him and is due to stand trial later this month.
The protests, which included local people as well as some members of organized far-right groups, started out peaceful but turned violent. At least nine people were arrested in connection with the demonstrations.
Anti-racism demonstrators have also staged counterprotests outside the Bell Hotel and other sites.
Philip Coppel, a lawyer for local officials in Epping, said the hotel's housing of asylum-seekers had provided a “feeding ground for unrest" and community tension.
