UK police clash with far-right protesters trying to enter hotel allegedly housing asylum seekers

LONDON (AP) — Police in the northern English town of Rotherham struggled to contain a crowd of far-right protesters who tried to storm a hotel believed to be housing asylum seekers on Sunday.

Before bringing the riot under some semblance of control, police with shields faced a barrage of missiles, including pieces of wood, chairs and fire extinguishers, as they tried to stop the protesters, many of whom were wearing masks, from entering the Holiday Inn Express hotel. A small fire in a dumpster was also visible as hotel windows were smashed.

A police helicopter hovered overhead and at least one injured officer in riot gear was carried away as the atmosphere grew increasingly febrile.

It was the latest bout of unrest to hit the UK after a stabbing attack at a dance class last week in northern England left three girls dead and several others injured.

Oliver Coppard, mayor of South Yorkshire, of which Rotherham is part, said he was “completely shocked” by the violence.

“What we are seeing is not protest, it is brutal violence directed against some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” he said. “We will pursue those who are carrying out this violence to the fullest extent of the law.”

Elsewhere, the atmosphere was also particularly tense in the northeastern town of Middlesborough, where some protesters managed to break free from a police guard.

A group of protesters walked through a residential area, smashing windows of houses and cars. When asked by a resident why they were smashing windows, a man replied: “Because we are English.” Hundreds of others stood with shields against police at the town’s cenotaph, throwing bricks, cans and pots at officers.

More demonstrations are taking place across the UK, but particularly in England, with counter-protesters also ready to make their presence felt.

Far-right activists clashed with anti-racism protesters across the UK on Saturday, with violent scenes unfolding in locations from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, to Liverpool in northwest England and Bristol in the west. Police made about 100 arrests, but more are likely to be made as officers comb through CCTV, social media and body camera footage.

Police have warned that widespread security measures, with thousands of officers deployed, mean other crimes may not be fully investigated.

“We are seeing officers being taken out of day-to-day policing,” Tiffany Lynch, from the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the BBC. “But while that is happening, the communities that are out there having incidents against them – victims of crime – unfortunately, their crimes are not being investigated.”

The violence that has gripped the country in recent days erupted in the wake of Monday’s knife attack in Southport. A 17-year-old boy was arrested.

False rumors spread online that the suspect was a Muslim and an immigrant, fueling anger among far-right supporters. Suspects under 18 are not usually named in the UK, but Judge Andrew Menary ordered that Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan parents, be named, in part to prevent the spread of misinformation. Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.

Police said many of the weekend’s actions were organised online by shadowy far-right groups, who mobilise support with slogans such as “enough is enough”, “save our children” and “stop the boats”. They are exploiting concerns about the scale of immigration into the country, in particular the tens of thousands of migrants arriving in small boats from France across the English Channel.

Calls for protests have come from a scattered group of social media accounts, but a key player in amplifying them is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a longtime far-right agitator who goes by the name Tommy Robinson. He has led the English Defence League, which Merseyside Police have linked to the violent protest in Southport on Tuesday, a day after the stabbing attack.

The group first emerged around 2009, leading a series of protests against what it described as militant Islam that often turned violent. Yaxley-Lennon was banned from Twitter in 2018, but was allowed back after it was bought by Elon Musk and renamed X. He has more than 800,000 followers.

The group’s membership and impact waned after a few years, and Yaxley-Lennon, 41, has faced a myriad of legal troubles. He was arrested for assault, contempt of court and mortgage fraud and is currently facing an arrest warrant after leaving the UK last week ahead of a scheduled hearing in a contempt of court case against him.

Nigel Farage, who was elected to parliament in July for the first time as leader of Reform UK, has also been blamed by many for indirectly encouraging the anti-immigrant sentiment that has been evident in recent days. In condemning the violence, he criticised the government for blaming “a few far-right thugs” and saying that “the far right is a reaction to fear… shared by tens of millions of people”.

New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer blamed the violence on “far-right hatred” and vowed to end the chaos. He said police across the UK would be given more resources to prevent “a breakdown of law and order on our streets”.

Police Minister Diana Johnson told the BBC there was “no need” to bring in the army to help police in their efforts to tackle violence.

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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

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