Protesters at Cresta Court in Altrincham have been divided only by a dual carriageway
Protesters gathered outside Cresta Court(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“I’m angry, I’m mad and I’m frustrated,” Julie says, clutching onto her Union Jack flag with exasperation.
She is sat on a wall opposite the Cresta Court hotel in Altrincham with her friend Anne. They are surrounded by more than 100 fellow protesters, who are waving flags, chanting and with some hurling abuse at the people on the other side of the road.
Some of those people are refugees who are living in the hotel that was closed last year and repurposed as asylum seeker accommodation. In front of the hotel are counter-protesters, standing in ‘solidarity’ with its occupants.
They are also making a lot of noise, calling the protesters ‘Nazis’. In return, they are called ‘traitors’ – as are the police.
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The two rival groups are separated by a dual carriageway with dozens of police officers lined up along the central reservation of the A56 Church Street.
Occasionally, YouTubers and other social media content creators cross over to the other side with some clearly seeking to agitate those from the ‘anti-racist’ demonstration. There are some physical confrontations.
GB News reporter Sophie Reaper said she was ‘struck’ on the head with a placard while live on TV(Image: Manchester Evening News)
At one point, a GB News reporter tries to speak to the counter-protesters but she appears to be ‘struck’ on the head by a placard while broadcasting live. She reports the incident to the police who are now investigating an allegation of ‘assault’.
Amid all the chaos, the Manchester Evening News spoke to protesters on both sides of the demonstration on Friday (August 8).
Some are local residents expressing concerns about crime, claiming asylum seekers are to blame, while others are angry at the government for allowing migrants to enter the country unlawfully and housing them here at great cost to the taxpayer.
‘We’re not racist, just worried’
There are also some familiar faces in the crowd who are not local, but are known to be members of far-right groups.
Counter-protesters from Stand Up to Racism suspect it is these far-right individuals who are organising these protests.
When the M.E.N. asked local residents how they found out about the protest, the answer was invariably ‘Facebook’.
There were more than 100 people protesting against the asylum seeker hotel in Altrincham(Image: Manchester Evening News)
However, Mr and Mrs Bailey, who did not want to give their first names, said they stumbled upon it and just joined in.
“We’re not racist, we’re just worried about our kids,” Mrs Bailey, 71, who lives around the corner, says unprompted.
“We don’t know who they are,” she says of the asylum seekers living in the hotel. “They’ve got no passports.”
“We’re not racist at all,” she repeats. “We just think it’s unfair for this government to put on us. Who vets them?”
Later in the evening, Nahella Ashraf, co-chair of Stand Up to Racism in Greater Manchester, points out the building was previously used as a hotel which anyone could book a room at, arguing these concerns about unknown individuals is ‘racism at its core’.
But some of the protesters on the opposing side claim to have seen crimes committed by residents of the hotel with their own eyes.
Julie and Anne live in Altrincham(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“They’re in Altrincham centre doing what they want and stuff like that,” Julie says. “Robbing and stuff,” she adds when pushed.
Julie is not the only person to claim that Cresta Court residents are ‘robbing shops’ in Altrincham town centre.
However, Greater Manchester Police told the M.E.N. that it is has ‘no knowledge’ of asylum seekers doing such a thing.
The force said there has not been a rise in retail or street crime in Altrincham town centre since the hotel started housing asylum seekers last year, but stressed that the public should come forward if they want to report any such crimes.
Part of the problem, it seems, is that many of the protesters don’t trust the police.
“If I was a copper I’d give up my job,” Julie says, claiming ‘two-tier’ policing is at play. “I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t go against the people.”
There were some confrontations with the police(Image: Manchester Evening News)
As she makes her point passionately, a man behind her starts screaming, calling the police ‘traitors’ and accusing them of ‘protecting paedophiles’. At the peak of his tirade, he says ‘illegal immigrants’ are ‘all f***ing groomers’.
Later on, as the protest is winding down, another man starts goading a police officer, asking where he’s from and, upon his response, says ‘people in Wythenshawe don’t protect paedophiles’.
The officer starts to engage in a debate with the man, telling him that the local crime statistics don’t back up his claims about asylum seekers, before other protesters tell the man ‘don’t waste your breath on them’.
Others at the protest express their concern for the safety of children in a calmer tone, but are clearly angry too.
Several spoke of asylum seekers accused of sexual assault and rape elsewhere in the country and their fears it could happen here. They cite alarming statistics purporting to show how prevalent the problem is in the UK.
It is true that a small number of asylum seekers have been accused of such crimes and some have been charged, including in Warwickshire and in Essex, but the M.E.N. could not find any evidence to support the statistics cited.
GMP says crime statistics don’t support the claims(Image: Manchester Evening News)
GMP told the M.E.N. that no reports of rape or sexual assault have been made against any residents of this hotel, past or present.
For some protesters though, it’s all about the money. “It’s not a racist thing,” Sharon, 54, from Altrincham says. “It’s a money thing.”
“It’s not their fault,” she adds, somewhat sympathetically. “If you’re going to be offered a life, free hotel, phone, you’re going to do it.
“I do feel sorry for them in a way. But we’re overcrowded, unfortunately. We can’t take the whole world on. We’re a small island.”
Asked where asylum seekers should be housed instead, she says: “I think we should send them home. We’re full up.”
Paul Kuhn, who lives just off Hazel Road, behind Cresta Court, believes asylum seekers should be housed on an ‘off-shore island’.
Chants of ‘send them home’ were repeated(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Like others around him, he insists he is not ‘having a go’ at immigrants. But when asked what he thinks about his fellow protesters chanting ‘send them home’, he pauses, before saying: “Well they’re not really welcome, are they? They’re here illegally in this country.”
The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute by providing appropriate support, which usually includes accommodation.
However, the government says it has returned more than 35,000 people with no right to be here since Labour took office last year.
Meanwhile, the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels has fallen by 15 per cent – a drop of almost 6,000 – in the first three months of this year, bringing the cost of these hotels down from £8.3m per day to £5.7m in 2024/25, according to the Home Office.
Andrea, 56, from Sale, says she doesn’t buy it though. “The government said they’re going to stop it and protect the British citizens,” she says.
“They’re actually doing the polar opposite and the government need to know how strong the feeling is.”
Some of the protesters were from the area but there were also some familiar far-right figures(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“The problem is there’s nowhere to house them and the country can’t take it and we can’t afford it either,” she adds.
“The NHS at the moment – I’ve tried to get a blood test. It’s taken me three weeks to get a blood test.
“Probably a year ago, it wouldn’t have taken me that long, it would have taken me a week at most.”
‘Refugees aren’t to blame’
Nahella Ashraf, from Stand Up To Racism, says people can be ‘angry with the world’, as she is, but refugees ‘are not to blame’.
“You can be angry with the state of society right now,” she told the M.E.N.. “The cost of living crisis, they’re cutting our welfare services.
“Refugees aren’t to blame for that. That’s government policy. Go campaign where you should be.”
Around 100 people attended the counter-protest(Image: Manchester Evening News)
The anti-racism campaigner, who helped organise counter-demonstrations in Greater Manchester during the riots last year, argues that it is irresponsible to protest outside asylum seeker hotels following the shocking scenes last year when these protests turned violent.
She cites the asylum seeker hotel in Rotherham which some people tried to set fire to last summer, describing this as a ‘pogrom’.
“It’s not like you don’t know where this can lead to,” she says.
“We saw last summer, when people came out and demonstrated outside hotels, it wasn’t just a riot. In some cases they tried to set fire to buildings which are housing refugees. That’s a pogrom.
“And that group over there have the potential to carry out those same actions out here, outside this hotel, and yet you’re choosing to stand with them.”
The rival groups were separated by the A56 Church Street(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“We know a lot of those people across the road have a history of being active within the far-right movement,” she added, “and we think it’s disgraceful that they’re attacking the most vulnerable within our society.
“We think it’s really important that we’re here, showing solidarity with the refugees but also sending a clear message out that they don’t speak for us, that they are not the majority.”
What the government has said
A government spokesperson said: “Since taking office, we have taken immediate action to fix the asylum system and have started closing down hotels and returning more than 35,000 people with no right to be here.
“From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9 million a day, there are now less than 210, and we want them all closed by the end of this Parliament.
“We will continue to work closely with community partners across the country, and discuss any concerns they have, as we look to fix this broken system together.
“The security of the local communities within which hotels are located will always be our paramount concern.”