Hundreds have protested against government plans to house asylum seekers at a military site in East Sussex.
The Home Office announced in October that 540 men would be housed at an army training camp on the outskirts of Crowborough.
“We’re trying to make a stand”, one demonstrator told the BBC on Sunday.
Moving asylum seekers to military sites is part of the government’s push to end the controversial use of hotels, which have become protest flashpoints.
“The Home Office has just basically done us over,” another protestor told the BBC.
“There’s not room enough for the amount of people.”
The Home Office has promised that the site will comply with security, health and well-being standards.
It added people will only be moved to the site when it is “fully operational and safe”.
“We will not replicate the mistakes of the past where rushed plans have led to unsafe and chaotic situations that impact the local community,” a spokesperson said.
The government is attempting to end the controversial use of asylum hotels [BBC]
Another protestor told the BBC: “We don’t have enough police. We don’t know who these people are. As a community we just don’t want them.”
The Brighton-based NGO Conversation Over Borders previously told the BBC it was a “harmful and unevidenced myth” that men seeking asylum were a danger.
Crowborough residents earlier said people from Afghanistan, accommodated at the site following the 2021 Kabul withdrawal, had not been a problem.
But they expressed concerns to BBC Radio Sussex about pressure on local infrastructure.
The Home Office has said it expects to “provide the bulk of primary care services on site”, though anyone in the area would need to be registered with local GP services.
Similar protests have taken place in recent weeks – some of which have been supported by national campaigners.
It remains unclear when the first asylum seekers will arrive.
The plans have been delayed, though the Home Office said it would “accelerate” them in November.
Last week two cadet groups, which had been using the base, held their final parade.
Demonstrators have gathered multiple times in Crowborough [Eddie Mitchell]
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels.
“Moving to large military sites is an important part of our reforms to tackle illegal migration and the pull factors that make the UK an attractive destination.”
As of June this year, around 32,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels, down from a peak of more than 56,000 in 2023, according to government figures.
Expected costs of Home Office accommodation contracts for 2019-2029 have tripled from £4.5bn to £15.3bn.
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