Firefighters have rushed to a migrant hotel in Canary Wharf after reports of a blaze.
The four-star Britannia Hotel, which is housing hundreds of asylum seekers, has been the site of large scale anti-migrant protests in recent months.
Reports suggested that an electrical fire had broken out on the seventh floor on Sunday afternoon and seven fire engines hurried to the hotel.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said firefighters were ‘responding to an incident at a hotel on Marsh Wall, Tower Hamlets.’
‘Crews carried out a systematic search of the building for signs of fire.
‘The Brigade was first called about the incident at 1650, and crews from Millwall, Poplar, Whitechapel and surrounding fire stations have been sent to the scene.
However, the fire service later said it was a false alarm and there was no blaze.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘Firefighters responded to reports of a possible fire at a hotel on Marsh Wall, Tower Hamlets.
‘Crews carried out a systematic search of the building for signs of fire and none were discovered.
‘The Brigade was first called about the incident at 16.50, and crews from Millwall, Poplar, Whitechapel and surrounding fire stations were sent to the scene.
The incident was over for crews by 18.35.’
A small group of protesters, numbering around a dozen, were seen demonstrating outside the hotel as fire officers dealt with the incident.
St George’s flags and Union Jacks were put up on a fence outside the hotel but were later removed.
Five security guards stood at the hotel’s entrance, which was protected by two large metal fences.
The hotel, which was earmaked for asylum accomodation over the summer, has been at the forefront of the anti-migrant protests which have sweeped across the country in recent months.
The decision to house hundreds of illegal migrants in the heart of east London’s banking district prompted a furious reaction from locals, with some complaining of feeling too scared to leave their homes.
Frequent protests have taken place outside, with one resident arrested in August for allegedly bursting into a blind woman’s flat.
And last month a woman accussed of forcing her way into the accomodation while carrying a meat cleaver admitted affray.
The Britannia, which opened in 1992 at the height of Canary Wharf’s emergence from an area of derelict dockland, boasts of ‘superb views over the London skyline’ and usually charges more than £400 a night for rooms.
The hotel is also within walking distance of skyscraper One Canada Square, which was the UK’s tallest building for more than 20 years until The Shard was unveiled in 2012.
