Members of one of the UK’s biggest Neo-Nazi groups have been involved in organising anti-migrant protests outside a hotel in Essex, which has led to 10 people being arrested.
Two members of the far-right group Homeland can be seen as the administrators of Facebook page Epping Says No, a Facebook page with 1,500 members where the protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping have been organised.
The Homeland Party was formed as a splinter group to the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative in April 2023, and has been described as the largest fascist group in the UK by Hope Not Hate.
Two members of the party have since called on their social media pages for a “national call to action”, as the government fears another summer of unrest similar to last year when nationwide disorder broke out after three girls were stabbed to death in Southport.
Essex Police has issued a dispersal order in Epping which will be in place from 2pm on Thursday until 8am on Friday, and covers an area including the town centre, transport hubs and networks such as the Tube station.
The order gives officers the power to direct anyone suspected of committing anti-social behaviour, or planning to do so, to leave the area or face arrest.
Dozens of anti-immigration protesters also descended on the Britannia hotel in Canary Wharf on Wednesday, after reports circulated on social media that it had been earmarked to house migrants.
It has not yet received any asylum seekers, while it has been reported that the Home Office has reserved more than 400 beds at the four-star hotel.
Counter-protesters from Stand Up to Racism have attended both Epping and Canary Wharf, with Essex Police forced to deny claims they had “bussed” them to the demonstration on Sunday evening.
Protests were first sparked outside the Bell Hotel nearly two weeks ago, after 38-year-old Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu was accused of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl within days of arriving in the UK on a small boat. He denies the charges.
Chairperson of the Police Federation, Tiff Lynch, wrote in The Telegraph that the disorder was “not just a troubling one-off”, adding: “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.”
She said that local commanders across the country are forced to choose between “keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps”.
Ms Lynch said: “A summer of further unrest is not inevitable. But it becomes far more likely if we once again fail to prepare.”
