The Metropolitan Police says it has not banned protests outside an aslyum seeker hotel in London, contrary to rumours that spread online. A series of demonstrations have taken place near the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf over plans for it to be used to house migrants.
On Sunday, a peaceful women and children’s protest outside the Britannia Hotel was crashed by masked men who set off flares. The Met clarified that it had not banned all protesters from the hotel — only the specific group causing trouble. A spokesperson said: “We have not banned protests outside the Britannia International Hotel.
“Officers policed a protest for a considerable time today but a group remained who were harassing occupants of the hotel and staff, trying to prevent people accessing the hotel to make deliveries and making concerted efforts to breach the fencing and access the hotel.
“Their actions went well beyond protest to harassment and we used powers under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2011 to order that specific group to leave and not return for 28 days.
“If a different group wishes to protest in the vicinity of the hotel, they are not banned from doing so, providing they do so lawfully.”
Earlier in the day, a man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker after an officer was pushed.
Men believed to be asylum seekers were filmed walking into the hotel off a bus in the early hours of Saturday, with the video clip showing them holding what seemed to be brown envelopes and wearing similar clothing.
A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council has previously confirmed the Britannia Hotel will be used to “provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers”.
Several demonstrations against the use of hotels to house aslyum seekers have been held across the UK in recent weeks, most notably outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.
On Saturday, police made nine arrests after rival groups gathered outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington, north London.
While a protest and counter-protest also took place outside the New Bridge Hotel in Newcastle and four people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences, Northumbria Police said.