Hundreds of demonstrators who protested against single male asylum seekers being housed at a hotel in Norfolk will be ignored by the Home Office, as it said plans to accommodate the men will go ahead. Controversial plans to move the male-only migrants to the Park Hotel in the town of Diss met strong local opposition, with scores of people taking to the streets outside the venue at the end of July.
Diss is a rural market town of just over 10,000 people close to the Norfolk-Suffolk border. Since 2023 the town’s Park Hotel had been used to house asylum seeker families, women and children, but in July the Home Office told South Norfolk Council it would only now be used for single men.
Local leaders expressed dismay at the plans and urged the Government to reconsider. Daniel Elmer, the Conservative leader of South Norfolk Council, warned it was an “unnecessary decision,” and Diss Town Council called the Home Office’s “lack of engagement… deeply concerning.”
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the hotel at the end of July to protest the decision, and police had to keep factions apart as counter-protesters also convened on the location.
But the BBC reports the Home Office “intends to proceed” with the plans. A spokesperson told the broadcaster: “The Government is reducing expensive hotel use as part of a complete overhaul of the asylum system.
“From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9m a day, there are now less than 210, and we want them all closed by the end of this Parliament.
“We will continue to work closely with community partners across the country and discuss any concerns they have, as we look to fix this broken system together. The security of the local communities within which hotels are located will always be our paramount concern.”
Speaking to BBC Look East, David Elmer, the Conservative leader of South Norfolk Council, said: “I’m incredibly disappointed. I think this a completely unnecessary decision.
“The hotel is already being used to house asylum seekers. This isn’t going to create any extra capacity for the Government.
“All it is going to do is upset a settled community; upset a community of asylum seekers that are already integrating very well into the local area, for no reason at all.”
A spokeswoman for Norfolk Police said: “Norfolk Police will continue to monitor the situation and provide a proportionate response, if needed, while respecting the right to peaceful protest and ensuring the safety of the local community.”