Anti-asylum seeker protesters have announced that they will be back tonight (16/1/25), gathering outside a hotel housing asylum seekers who have been placed in the accommodation by the Home Office whilst awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications.
Southampton Stand Up To Racism will be holding a counter ‘defend refugees’ demonstration, with protesters gathering outside Waitrose in Portswood at 4.45pm and marching up the high street before gathering outside the hotel, to counter the anti-asylum protesters.
The number of anti-asylum seeker protesters gathering to shout outside of the hotel has dwindled significantly, from highs of around 100 in the summer, to a couple of dozen at the majority of this year’s gathering. This will be the fifth gathering in the residential Southampton suburb this month.
Southampton Stand Up To Racism has continued to call counter demonstrations whenever anti-asylum protests have been announced.
In a post shared to supporters and on social media, they said: “we are calling on everyone in our community who has stood with asylum seekers week in, week out, to join us for a strong, visible counter-protest.”
Despite the anti-immigration protests now attracting the kind of numbers you might find at a family barbecue, the events require a heavy police presence.
Commentators on social media have questioned how much these frequent anti-asylum seeker protest gatherings are costing to police – in October it was announced that the cost of policing of anti-immigration and anti-asylum seeker protests in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was more than £100,000 in August alone.
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