On Friday, 29 August 2025, anti-refugee campaigners suffered a key legal defeat. The government won its appeal to prevent the eviction of asylum seekers from a hotel in southern England. Ministers hailed the ruling as “common sense.” For protest organisers, it became another rallying cry—evidence, they claimed, that even the courts were stacked against “ordinary people.”
That evening, fresh calls for larger demonstrations spread online. Hotels housing asylum seekers have become flashpoints across the country, marked by marches, scuffles, and sometimes violence. Protesters insist they represent local communities. But whose grievances are they really voicing—and who stands to gain?
Manufactured anger
The pattern is increasingly clear. The Southport riots of 2024 showed how quickly misinformation can tip into violence. A false rumour that a refugee was behind a stabbing at a children’s dance class spread like wildfire on social media. Police later confirmed it was untrue. But by then, mosques and hotels had already come under attack.
This is the playbook. Groups such as Britain First and Homeland, alongside figures like Tommy Robinson, pounce on unverified claims, amplify them online, and funnel outrage into street protests. What appears to be spontaneous anger often begins with a carefully engineered spark.
READ: UK bars Israeli officials from major defense expo in London
Fueled by media and politics
Britain’s media and political climate help this strategy thrive. Sensationalist headlines about migrants sell papers and generate clicks. Crimes linked—sometimes tenuously—to asylum seekers receive far more attention than comparable offences committed by citizens.
Politically, the rise of Reform UK has dragged anti-immigration rhetoric into the mainstream. By blaming refugees for limited housing, crowded hospitals, and stagnant wages, the party taps into real frustrations. The simplicity of the message – “they are the problem” – provides an easy scapegoat in difficult times.
Islamophobia and global alignments
Muslim refugees, in particular, are cast as cultural outsiders who cannot “integrate.” This reflects the persistence of Islamophobia in British political culture, reinforced by years of hostile-environment policies and securitised debate.
There is also a global dimension. Some far-right figures have aligned themselves with strongly pro-Israel positions, echoing narratives that frame Muslims—and Palestinians especially—as existential threats. The overlap shows that hostility to asylum seekers is not only about domestic pressures, but also about wider ideological battles that extend far beyond Britain’s borders.
Forgotten human lives
Lost amid headlines and hashtags are the people whose lives hang in the balance. Refugees are reduced to numbers: boats, hotels, deportations. Yet every statistic hides a story.
Consider a 19-year-old from Sudan who left his family behind, hoping to study medicine. He now spends his days confined to a hotel in northern England, waiting for a decision that will shape his entire future. He is not an exception. Refugees do not uproot their lives lightly; they flee war, persecution, or economic collapse—often crises tied to colonial legacies in which Britain itself played a role.
READ: NGOs urge UK to take action against firms complicit in Gaza genocide, illegal settlements
Migrants against migrants
An uncomfortable truth is that hostility does not come only from the far right. Some long-settled migrants have joined calls for tougher border controls. A few have even built political careers on denouncing those who came after them. It is a stark reminder of how quickly memory can fade—and how anger so often falls on those least able to defend themselves.
What kind of nation?
Ultimately, these protests are about more than hotels or court rulings. They raise a deeper question: what kind of Britain is taking shape? One path clings to nostalgia for empire, defining identity through exclusion. The other recognises that diversity is already part of the nation’s fabric, and that strength lies in embracing it.
Migrants have long shaped Britain—in the NHS, in universities, in business, and in culture. To deny this is to deny Britain’s own story. The real danger now is allowing fear and misinformation to dominate the debate. The alternative is harder but essential: confronting lies with facts, and rejecting scapegoating in favour of a politics that recognises refugees not as threats, but as people who, given the chance, can and do contribute to the society around them.
OPINION: The Egyptian King Mohamed Salah; why does he step down when it comes to Gaza?
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.