Disorder outside an Essex asylum hotel was a “signal flare” for more unrest to come, the head of the Police Federation has warned.
Tiff Lynch said officers were likely to be taken away from neighbourhood duties amid fears they will have to keep the peace at protests over migrants this summer.
Police chiefs will be “forced to choose between keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps”, she said, adding that “little has improved” since riots last July sparked by the murder of three girls in Southport.
Writing in the Telegraph, Ms Lynch said: “The disorder in Epping – where police officers were pelted with bricks and bottles outside an asylum hotel – was not just a troubling one-off.
“It was a signal flare. A reminder of how little it takes for tensions to erupt and how ill-prepared we remain to deal with it.
“Last summer’s civil unrest exposed the deep fragility within our public order policing system.
“The gaps were plain to see…Officers were left to face missiles with little more than a shield and a short briefing. The risks were there in black and white, yet little has improved since.”
Ten people have so been arrested in connection with the disorder in Essex, which was sparked when an asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault.
Protests also broke out in Norfolk earlier this week when authorities in the small town of Diss were told a hotel housing migrant families would be changed for use by single, male asylum seekers.
Ms Lynch’s warning came as police prepare for a further expected protest in Epping later on Thursday.
A dispersal order is in place from 2pm until 8am on Friday morning covering the town centre and major transport centres including the Tube station after warning further further activity was planned.
The order gives police powers to direct anyone suspected of anti-social behaviour to leave or face arrest.
It came as Met Police officers surrounded the 400 bed Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf for a second day.
False rumours spread online suggested it was going to be used to house migrants being moved from the Bell Hotel in Epping after the riots broke out there at a cost of £400-a-night per person.
The Home Office has since confirmed the Britannia will used as asylum accommodation at a cost of £81 per night per person.
A Home Office spokesperson added: “Asylum seekers are not being removed from The Bell Hotel in Epping.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “Officers were in attendance at a protest outside a hotel in Canary Wharf.
“No arrests were made. Officers remain in the area to deal with any incidents.”
Essex Police said on Tuesday that four men have been charged with violent disorder and a fifth man charged with failing to remove a face covering when directed.
Political activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said on his X account on July 20 that he was "coming to Epping next Sunday ... and bringing thousands more with me".
