Police have admitted escorting pro-migrant activists to the Epping asylum hotel where their encounter with anti-migrant protesters sparked violence.
Footage of the force helping the counter-demonstrators from a nearby station to the Bell Hotel has emerged after Essex Police initially denied offering help.
The group Stand up to Racism clashed with anti-migrant protesters as they carried signs saying ‘refugees welcome’ and quickly became a target for anger.
Police were also seen in one video escorting some counter-demonstrators away from the hotel as a huge crowd of people continued to jeer.
Three arrests were made in connection with Thursday’s protests, which began peacefully before flaring into violence, with a police van seen driving into a protestor who appeared to be obstructing its path.
And Essex Police said a further six arrests were made on Sunday night for ‘violent disorder’ after the peaceful protests turned into ‘mindless thuggery’.
Protesters descended on The Bell Hotel in Epping which has been operating on-and-off as a migrant hotel for the last five years, after an asylum seeker was accused of committing three sexual assaults.
The man accused of trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl, Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, from Ethiopia, had arrived in the UK by small boat eight days prior to the alleged assaults.
He has since denied three charges of sexual assault against two girls aged 14 and 16, inciting a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity and harassment without violence.
Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, has admitted mass migration is threatening community cohesion as fears grow over another summer of riots.
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hooper said: ‘We have a reasonable duty to protect people who want to exercise their rights.
‘In terms of bringing people to the hotel, the police have a duty to facilitate free assembly. We would only ever take people away from protest if we felt there was an immediate threat to people or property, to free up police resources, to protect others, or to prevent additional violence.
‘In Epping, officers took all three of those into account before making their decisions.’
Some residents have claimed the decision to escort counter-protesters made violence inevitable as social media footage has suggested the confrontation escalated shortly after their arrival – with objects reportedly thrown and minor injuries sustained.
Orla Minihane, a leader of the anti-migrant protests and a Reform UK council candidate, claimed locals felt police were almost forcing a ‘confrontation’ between the two groups.
Reform party leader Nigel Farage said: ‘I didn’t want to believe this had happened and then I saw the video. It’s an absolute disgrace, and the police’s priorities need urgently looking at.’
Following the Epping protests, demonstrations spread to Norfolk amid plans to house single male asylum seekers at a hotel.
Around 150 people gathered outside the Park Hotel in Diss on Monday evening.
The demonstration in Norfolk started with around 60 people shouting ‘we want our country back’.
They were met by about 30 counter-protesters from Stand Up To Racism holding signs that read ‘refugees welcome’.
Footage shows them initially standing on opposite sides of the road outside the hotel.
But as tension mounted, they clashed with one another, with protesters crossing the road to confront the counter-protesters.
South Norfolk Council has opposed plans to change the use of the hotel to single adult male migrants, saying it only learned about it in a brief email from Whitehall last week. The Home Office is in contact with Adrian Ramsay MP and the council.
The local authority argued families at the hotel had become part of the local community and replacing them with single men could see tension boil over as it has in other parts of the country.
In a letter to the Home Office, council leader Daniel Elmer, wrote: ‘We feel the decision and intended timeframe poses significant risks and concerns to both community cohesion and the vulnerable single males who would be residing at the hotel.
‘The community impact of this change cannot be overstated. When the hotel was first opened for asylum accommodation, there was considerable unease among local residents.’
He added: ‘A sudden shift to a SAM [Single Adult Male] hotel risks reigniting those tensions, especially in the absence of any community engagement or mitigation strategy from the Home Office.’
Meanwhile, migrant hotel protests spread to London on Tuesday night amid rumours asylum seekers housed in Epping were being moved to a four-star hotel in Canary Wharf.
The Home Office has denied the claims.
