Anti-migrant protesters dubbed the “Pink Ladies” plan to keep descending on an east London hotel housing asylum seekers until it is forced to shut down.
Dozens of women - said to be concerned local mothers, sisters and grandmothers - insist they are “not far-right, just on the right side of history”.
A number claim to be ex-Labour voters “disgusted” by the Home Office’s policy of placing young male small-boat arrivals at the Britannia International in Canary Wharf at huge cost to taxpayers.
Ministers are scrambling to devise contingency plans after Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary High Court injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel, Essex. Sir Keir Starmer faces a “red on red” revolt with at least four Labour-run authorities among councils considering similar legal challenges.
The Bell has seen a series of demonstrations after then-resident Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, which he denies.
Activists in Tower Hamlets, near the four-star Britannia on Marsh Wall, share fears of a similar incident.
Last Sunday afternoon, six arrests were made as protesters - some setting off pink flares and waving England flags - clashed with Metropolitan Police officers outside.
Charity worker Lorraine Kavanagh, 70, a founder of the Pink Ladies, said of the migrants: “We don’t hate these people. I can’t hate someone I don’t know. What I hate is the system.
“This government is supposed to be protecting us, and they’re not.”
.jpeg)
Another Pink Lady, Pamela, claims she has to make sure her 84-year-old wheelchair-bound mother locks her doors “because people go around and walk in”.
“I’m here to protect the elderly, not just the children. Our community,” she said.
Both women stated the Prime Minister shouldn’t be spending billions on around 32,059 asylum seekers housed temporarily in UK hotels while trying to scrap the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners and with the NHS in crisis.
Critics accuse the Pink Ladies of being far-right supports, but they say that is “a stupid assertion”. Although claiming to have previously “not been political animals or even traditionally Tory”, one parent who backed Sir Keir at the polls only last year vowed never to do so again.
Green Party councillor Nathalie Bienfait organised a counter rally outside the Britannia to support asylum seekers, saying her borough was “built on the shoulders of migrants”.
Cllr Bienfait said a lot of discussion online had been scaremongering and not shown compassion towards vulnerable people who’d made dangerous journeys to get to Britain.
She added: “The reason people come in small boats is because there is no safe way refugees can come legally.
“I’m shocked at that level of aggression in Tower Hamlets.”
Last week Wednesday, a migrant at the Britannia, in his early 20s, allegedly burst into a blind woman’s nearby flat nearby after being followed by a group who ordered him “go back to the hotel”.
Channay Augustus, 22, an occupant of the property, chased the man away but appeared in court on Friday, August 15, accused of trying to force her way into the controversial hotel armed with a meat cleaver and allegedly shouting “f***ing asylum seekers”.
Augustus is said to have threatened two people, Aqib Ahmad and Abdullah Abdi.
Mr Ahmad is a security guard. The suspect who entered her mother’s home was later arrested on suspicion of common assault and bailed.
At Sunday’s demo, journalist Jack Hadfield said crowds repeatedly chanted “Free Channay”. She has been remanded into custody to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on September 12.
Mr Hadfield told the Standard: “These women, the Pink Ladies, are determined.
“To compare and contrast with the Southport riots last July and August, I was there when it kicked off.
“That was pure anger and rage, whereas at pretty much all these Canary Wharf protests, I haven’t seen any violence at all.
“It’s more determination and solidarity.
“When the Pink Ladies were marching on the Britainnia hotel, you had lads running in front applauding as they passed by. Women, children, mothers, grandmothers of the community. They are all still united. Black, white and mixed race.
“It really is very different to anything we’ve seen before. This is nothing to do with race - even if we were talking about women and child asylum seekers fleeing persecution, we’d be happy to take them.
“But you’ve got hundreds of thousands of unvetted men coming across the Channel, then let go.”
His business is repeatedly ranked by Which? consumer group as the “worst hotel chain” in Britain.
Born to Jewish refugees, Langsam lives in a sprawling 10-bedroom village estate in Cheshire.
In what appears to be his only interview, Langsam told The Guardian in 2011 that his family would “probably have gone to the gas chambers” had they not been welcomed in the UK.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the removal of asylum seekers from The Bell Hotel is “a victory for the mums and dads who just want their children to be safe”.
Reacting to the ruling, security minister Dan Jarvis told Times Radio: “We’re looking at a range of different contingency options.
“I think the important point to make is that nobody really thinks that hotels are a sustainable location to accommodate asylum seekers.
“That’s precisely why the Government has made a commitment that, by the end of this Parliament, we would have phased out the use of them.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, said: “Everyone agrees that hotels are the wrong answer.
“They cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo and are flashpoints in communities.
“Through our frontline work, we see how protests and hostility leave people who have fled war and persecution feeling terrified and targeted in the very places they are forced to live. This makes an already traumatising situation worse and prevents people from feeling safe.
“Instead of using costly hotels, the Government should partner with local councils to provide safe, cost-effective accommodation within communities.
“But ultimately, the only way to end hotel use for good is to resolve asylum applications quickly and accurately so people can either rebuild their lives here or return home with dignity.
“This will cut costs and allow refugees to integrate into their new communities, contribute, and play their part in Britain.”
Stand Up To Racism has warned around 20 protests outside hotels are planned over the bank holiday weekend following the The Bell Hotel court ruling. The Pink Ladies say they are are planning to hold protests in Cheshunt and Canary Wharf.
It said far-right figures including those from neo-Nazi groups Combat 18 and Homeland might attend some of the protests.
Co-convenor Weyman Bennett hit out: “This is a dangerous moment.
“The Epping ruling and the so-called protests are a license for racism and racist attacks.
“Nigel Farage (Reform UK leader) and Robert Jenrick (the shadow justice secretary) are competing for the racist vote, and in the process are openly encouraging fascists on the ground to employ violence to get hotels closed.
“This will cost lives. They want a repeat of the violent riots last summer.
“We won’t let them and will oppose the far-right and racists every time they take to the streets.”
Stand Up To Racism’s Sabby Dhalu added: “As more councils take legal action to close hotels housing refugees and far-right protests intensify, Tuesday’s High Court ruling has not solved any problems.
“Asylum policy is being dictated by racist and fascist mobs. This must be opposed. Britain must uphold the right to asylum. People seeking asylum should have the right to work, earn their own money and organise their own accommodation.”
Adding to tensions in Tower Hamlets, the local authority removed St George’s Cross flags from council properties this week.
Campaigners attached them following an online movement called Operation Raise the Colours.
Tower Hamlets Council said: “The decision to use the Brittania Hotel to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers was taken by the Government and the Council was not consulted.
“We have been working with the Government to ensure support for our local community as well as those staying in the hotel.
“Tower Hamlets has a proud history of our community coming together to oppose division and prejudice.
“We have one of the most diverse and cohesive populations in the country, where 90 per cent of our residents say they get on well with one another.”
