風蕭蕭_Frank
以文會友
英政府租飯店安置非法移民 利物浦民眾不滿上街示威
Hundreds face off outside Falkirk hotel in asylum seeker protests
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxyj5w5jn0o?
Chris Clements and Paul WardBBC News, Falkirk Aug29， 2025
'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gerg74y71o?
9 August 2025 Tom SymondsCorrespondent, BBC News
行為激烈的反移民群眾遭警方壓製帶走，英國著名港口城市、第4大城利物浦近日不斷上演反移民示威，大批群眾手持英國國旗的米字旗以及象徵十字軍的聖喬治旗，湧入利物浦街頭抗議英國政府用政府經費在各地租用飯店來安置非法移民。
英國反移民示威民眾克雷格表示，「我在這裡是因為害怕我國的走向，我們被入侵了，有超過10萬人搭乘橡皮艇入境。」
但反移民示威的另一邊，被警方用人牆隔開的是另一群同情移民的民眾，他們高舉歡迎移民的標語，認為反移民的陣營都是種族歧視的法西斯主義者。
英國反種族歧視民眾卡爾說道，「英國必須為了世界上嚴重的人道危機盡一份心力。」
近年到英國尋求庇護的人數不斷增加，部分飯店也被徵用成收容場所。位於英國倫敦北部郊區埃平的貝爾飯店約有80間客房全被移民佔滿，因為這間酒店從2020年起被政府徵用作安置尋求庇護的非法移民，等待庇護審核的時間漫長，當地部分居民不滿政府每年花數十億英鎊徵用飯店安置移民，不少英國民眾生活也不好過，而移民卻能住在大飯店，同時也擔心治安問題。
今（2025）年7月一名住在貝爾飯店來自衣索比亞的移民，涉嫌在當地大街上試圖親吻一名14歲女學生，被控意圖性侵，引發當地居民連續幾星期在飯店外抗議。如今抗議持續蔓延，包括倫敦等多個城市都爆發示威，反對政府徵用飯店安置移民。
英國反移民示威民眾亞當回應，「我無法理解，為何我們看到在街上跟大量佔據飯店的都是一定年紀的男人，女人非常少？老實說，我絕對反對性侵我們年輕女孩等類似的事情。」
目前在英國民調領先的極右派改革黨領袖法拉吉（Nigel Farage）本星期表示，該黨控製的12個地方政府將尋求法院阻止移民入住飯店，甚至組織更多示威，向英國首相施凱爾所屬的執政工黨政府施壓，更痛批英國已遭從英吉利海峽搭乘橡皮艇入境的非法移民入侵。
英國改革黨領袖法拉吉說道，「我們唯一能阻止橡皮艇經由這條路線入境的方法就是拘留跟遣返，這些年輕人非法闖入我國就是入侵。」
根據民調顯示，移民問題已取代經濟，成為英國選民最關切的議題。改革黨聲稱，目前英國國內有100萬的非法移民，一旦改革黨執政將修改庇護法案，驅逐60萬人。
英國最新官方數據顯示，截至今年3月底有超過3萬名尋求庇護者被暫時安置在旅館；到2025年6月的過去一年內有超過11萬人在英國申請庇護，創歷史新高。
Hundreds face off outside Falkirk hotel in asylum seeker protests
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxyj5w5jn0o?
Chris Clements and Paul WardBBC News, Falkirk Aug29， 2025
Hundreds of pro and anti-immigration demonstrators have held rival protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Falkirk.
It was the second large-scale demonstration this month outside the Cladhan Hotel in the town.
The groups, numbering several hundred on each side, were separated by lines of police officers and metal railings.
Among the anti immigration crowd there were signs reading "stop the boats'"and "enough is enough", while counter demonstrators chanted "refugees are welcome here".
Earlier on Saturday, a gathering of anti-immigration protesters took place in the centre of Falkirk near the office of the local MP.
Children and families were among the group in the town centre.
Saltire and Union flags were waved and there were also signs reading "save our futures and our kids' futures", the name of a group that called the protest.
Some protesters used a loudspeaker with one saying: "Keep the pressure up and we can shut this hotel. The council need to act."
Another man, addressing the crowd, said he and his family had "fair and legitimate concerns about too much illegal immigration".
He added: "We are described as Nazis and racists. Nothing could be further from the truth."
PA Media Counter protests also took place in Falkirk
During the protest, crowds heard from a number of speakers who lambasted UK immigration policy, criticised the use of hotels to house asylum seekers and stated the gathering was not "far right".
Speakers also criticised mainstream media including the BBC, claiming journalists had not accurately covered the concerns of citizens.
At one point, an individual finished his speech by saying: "Keep Britain white. Keep Scotland white".
Organisers told protesters that initial plans to march to the Cladhan would not take place due to "legal implications" and warnings from police and the council over a lack of permission.
The demonstrators were kept on different sides of the road outside the hotel
People took part in a Save Our Future and Our Kids Futures protest outside the Cladhan Hotel
PA MediaThe different groups faced off on either side of a road
However, shortly after 13:00, a crowd broke away from the main protest and walked in small groups to join a second protest outside the Cladhan, where they were met by counter-demonstrators.
Outside the hotel, a woman called Sage, one of the organisers of the pro-immigration demonstration, said: "So many people are blaming the ills of our society - the housing crisis, cost of living - on people fleeing here from around the world.
"The real issue is people in government aren't tackling the issues properly and the wrong people are being blamed for our problems."
A demonstration also took place in Aberdeen near a hotel housing asylum seekrs
A separate protest also took place in Aberdeen on Saturday.
About 120 protesters gathered on Links Road at a hotel formerly known as the Patio.
The protest was organised by the Aberdeen Against Illegal Immigration group
About 50 counter protesters gathered, but each side was kept apart by a significant police presence.
Each side traded insults, trying to outdo the other side with bagpipe music.
Chants of "send them home" went up as two men appeared from the hotel wearing masks to greet the counter protesters.
A number of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers have been held in Scotland during August, in Perth, Aberdeenshire and Falkirk.
The Cladhan in Falkirk and the Radisson Blu in Perth became asylum seeker hotels in August 2022.
The Save Our Future Campaign, one of the groups organising protests, denies it is racist, and has made claims about asylum seekers being "fast tracked" in social housing.
The group claims it cannot be blamed for inflammatory banners including one unfurled at a previous Falkirk demonstration that read "kill 'em all".
The feelings in Falkirk have been inflamed after an asylum seeker from Afghanistan Sadeq Nikzad, 29, was convicted in June of raping a 15 year old girl in the town centre.
Nikzad was jailed for nine years.
There have been previous anti-asylum seeker protests in Scotland – one was held in Ayr in 2015, called by the Scottish Defence League, an offshoot of the English Defence League.
Others were held outside a hotel in Erskine in 2023, organised by a far right group called Patriotic Alternative and also by Homeland, a group which splintered from Patriotic Alternative.
There were 5,630 asylum seekers in Scotland, according to 30 June figures.
There are more than 1,500 in hotels, with about 90 in the Falkirk Council area.
'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gerg74y71o?
9 August 2025 Tom SymondsCorrespondent, BBC News
"We are not happy with these men in this hotel because we fear for our children," Orla Minihane tells me. "If that makes me far-right then so be it."
Orla has lived near Epping since she was a child and describes herself as a "very boring woman who has worked in the City of London for 25 years". Last year she joined Reform UK and hopes to stand as a local candidate for the party.
On a busy road leading to the Essex town, The Bell Hotel, now fortified, is one of more than 200 across the country where the government houses asylum seekers.
In the last month a series of protests, sometimes totalling several hundred people from both sides - and on one occasion up to 2,000 according to Essex Police - have taken place over the use of hotels for asylum seekers. About 20 more were planned for Friday and Saturday this week.
The latest round of demonstrations began at the 80-room Bell in July, after a man living in the hotel was arrested, and subsequently charged, with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity. Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, has denied the offences and is in custody.
The case has sparked a wider conversation about the effect of housing asylum seekers in hotels in communities across Britain.
"Before there were women and children in the hotel - there was a little bit of crime, most people got on with it," Orla says. "But now it's the fact that it's all men. It's not a balanced culture."
Orla Minihane is involved in the asylum hotel protests in Epping
The protests have been promoted on social media under red, white and blue banner text with slogans such as "Protect Our Community", "Safety of Women and Children Before Foreigners" and "All Patriots Welcome".
We have identified far-right activists at some of the protests and activists who oppose them are watching what is happening closely.
The activist group Stand Up To Racism sees this as far-right organisations "stirring up racist violence" and trying to repeat the violence that flared after the murders of three young girls in Southport.
However, the protests are often organised by people with little experience of street campaigning, including mothers with families and professional careers, like Orla. That they are getting involved suggests that in some communities, with hotels close by, there is a shift in the public mood about Britain's asylum hotels.
Outside The Bell, which is surrounded by steel fencing and guarded by a 24/7 security team, one of its residents, Wael, from Libya, is a year into his asylum claim and waiting for his fourth Home Office interview.
Wael says he feels respected in Epping
"I spoke with one of the protesters," Wael says. "Everything's good. Epping is nice. We can sit and stay. People respect us.
"I want to learn English and work. In a car wash or something. I will not stay here and take food. I have a dream - to make money and play football and have fun with my time. It's a small dream."
Wael is happy to talk, give his name and have his picture taken. But two other young Iraqi Kurds who are staying at The Bell, and allowed to freely come and go, are more cautious and less positive.
They tell me a gang of youths in masks and on motorbikes, has just shouted expletives at them. Shortly afterwards I catch sight of the bikers nearby.
One of the asylum seekers says that living in a hotel room 24 hours a day is messing with his mind. When I ask about their dealings with the Home Office they hurry inside The Bell.
Shortly afterwards a passing driver yells, "Burn it down".
Last summer in the wake of the Southport murders, that is what some protesters tried to do at other hotels.
This summer, there have been isolated clashes, when activists on each side of the argument, anti-fascists and hard-right, have faced each other, or the police.
Often the migrants have watched from the sidelines, penned up behind the fencing, or filming from upstairs windows.
Anti-fascists gathered outside the Barbican Thistle Hotel in London last weekend to support the asylum seekers inside
The police have largely kept control, sometimes facing criticism for their methods, including the false claim that Essex Police used buses to transport pro-migrant activists to a protest in Epping. For now, arrest numbers are way below those in 2024.
I ask Orla, who made an impassioned speech at a recent protest, why she is so aggrieved by the asylum hotel.
She says friends have described their daughters being "grabbed" by young, non-white men in the area. She has seen shoplifting, she says, in the local Marks & Spencer.
"Everyone knows they are asylum seekers," Orla says, "Epping is very white."
She adds of the hotel's occupants: "You know they are coming for freebies and when they come here they abuse the privilege. It's ridiculous."
Asylum seekers would say they are seeking protection by coming to the UK, although some are ultimately judged not to be eligible for asylum status.
Last month Stand Up To Racism claimed Orla had shared a stage with an alleged member of a neo-Nazi group at a hotel protest. She told BBC News she had "no idea" who he was, and he says he has since left the group.
Asylum seekers are not normally allowed to work in the UK. Successive governments have judged that paying for their accommodation and food is preferable to allowing them to compete with British workers in the jobs market, offering an incentive to come here.
In June, the government warned some asylum seekers may be illicitly working as food delivery drivers.
Sixteen miles south of Epping, residents in Canary Wharf, east London, live in gleaming glass towers and traditional East End houses alongside another asylum hotel. It is a very different place but many locals share similar opinions.
Asylum seekers recently arrived during the small hours at the wharf-side four-star Britannia International - 610 rooms, but, according to a former staff member, no longer the "luxury hotel" described in some reports. Rumours that they were coming triggered protests by local residents, many of them office workers in the Canary Wharf business district.
Outside the hotel, Chengcheng Cul, who is Chinese, draws a distinction between his "legal migration" to the UK, and "illegal asylum seekers".
"If people can come over the Channel illegally, and easily, what encourages decent people to come legally, pay their tax, and get involved in this society? Is this setting a good example? This country has opened the border to illegal migrants."
Lorraine Cavanagh, who works for charities on the Isle of Dogs, echoes the concerns in Epping. "I don't know who they are.
"They are unidentified men who can walk around and do what they want to do with no consequences," she says.
That comment, "I don't know who they are", lies at the heart of the opposition to asylum seekers in these communities.
Rival protesters outside the Britannia International hotel, in late July
It can be very hard to establish basic facts about the young men in the hotels, the system that put them there, or the impact they might have on locals.
While growing in number, asylum seekers who come by small boats across the English Channel are a small proportion of total immigration to the UK, and in 2024, just over a third of all asylum seekers.
The government has contracted out the task of accommodating them to three companies: Serco, Clearsprings and Mears. They buy up rooms in houses and in hotels, usually taking them over completely.
Ministers regularly talk about their ambition to "smash the gangs", but say less about the hotels. The government won't confirm where they are because of concerns they might be attacked.
Madeleine Sumption from the Migration Observatory points out there is a problem publishing information about small groups of asylum seekers when it might identify them by age or sex, a long-standing approach for public bodies.
We know how many hotel places are being used in each region - the vast majority are in the south of England. They cost £5.77m a day for the government to provide. The estimated cost over the decade to 2029 has spiralled from £4.5bn in 2019 to £15.3bn.
But there are no specific figures for the age and sex of hotel occupants, no details about their countries of origin, or their claim for sanctuary in the UK.
There were 35 sexual and violent offences reported in Epping town in May. In the same month, the year before, when there were no asylum seekers at The Bell, 28 sexual and violent offences were reported. In May 2023, the hotel was being used by the Home Office for migrant families. The number of reported offences was 32.
But how many of these offences involved asylum seekers? The police do not publish statistics about exactly where crimes happen or who is reported to have committed them.
So in many ways, we don't know "who they are".
Orla believes more information would help reduce tension and is furious at the government's handling of the asylum system.
"If you conceal the truth and you act as if you are hiding something, people are going to be angry," she says. "If they said there are 70 in the Bell Hotel, five are from Sudan, five from somewhere else, I think most people would feel better."
Epping Forest District Council's Conservative Leader, Chris Whitbread recently said that "it is important to be transparent" about asylum hotel information.
In a recent report, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, criticised how the Home Office deals with asylum hotels. "It is clear that the Home Office still has a long way to go to build trust and confidence in its willingness to be open and honest about its intentions and performance," he wrote.
The Home Office says it removed 6,000 people from hotels in early 2025 and has already closed 200 hotels. In its manifesto, Labour pledges to close them all by the next election.
On the other side of the political divide from the anti-migrant campaigners, in north London outside a meeting "to organise against the right wing", Sabby Dhalu from the protest group Stand Up To Racism wants the government to work more closely with councils so that their residents are better informed.
Sabby Dhalu thinks more transparency is a good idea
This should include "explaining why these people are here, where they come from, what's happening in those countries," she says. "That they're in the process of seeking asylum and going through the application process. Settling them in with the community."
"I think you've got far right organisations that are determined to repeat the events of last year," she added.
"And because for their own cynical reasons, they want to stir up racist violence, and in order to build their own political organisations."
That said, she feels that voices on the right are "whipping up" and weaponising a wider feeling of discontent among the public over Labour's cuts to public spending, and that the government is "making silly concessions" to the right in doing so.
Stopping the boats is a challenge which haunts the government, as it did the Conservatives. The Home Office has managed to cut the asylum claim backlog, currently standing at 79,000, but the claimants keep coming and the cost of accommodation is soaring. There is a feeling the government is struggling to cope and ignoring the views of communities.
Many are in agreement that having more than 200 hotels, full of asylum seekers often waiting for lengthy periods for decisions on their applications, is not a sustainable situation.
Whether or not the current protests continue, the government will have to find a solution.
This article has been updated to include more detail from Essex Police about the size of protests, with total numbers including both protesters and counter demonstrators.
