As the racists continue demonstrations, support the Stand Up To Racism mobilisations against the far right
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Wednesday 23 July 2025
On the Stand Up To Racism counter-protest against the fascists at the Britannia hotel on Wednesday
On Wednesday night, around 70 fascist and far right thugs staged a protest outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf, east London.
It was the second night in a row that the far right protest outside the hotel claiming refugees are housed inside. They want to spread the violence from Epping, where fascists have rampaged against refugees at The Bell Hotel during the last two weeks.
Supporters of Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) in Tower Hamlets put out an emergency call-out for a counter-protest. Around 30 anti-racists outside the Britannia International Hotel, facing the baying mob of fascists on the other side of the road.
Anti-racists chanted, “When refugees are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back,” and, “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”
The rally on Wednesday followed around 100 fascists gathering outside of the Britannia hotel in on Tuesday night. The thugs turned up after lies on social media that refugees were being housed there.
They chased after an Asian person driving a car and harassed a small number of anti-racists who’d turned out to oppose them.
Meet the fascists at the heart of Epping protests
The racist rallies in Canary Wharf followed around 150 fascists held a protest outside a hotel housing refugees in Diss, Norfolk, on Tuesday.
The fascists want to go on the offensive after going on the rampage at The Bell Hotel in Epping three times. They have been boosted by the far right party Reform UK legitimising the racist violence.
Reform UK chief whip and MP Lee Anderson said he was “absolutely furious” in a video taken near the Britannia hotel.
He posted on X, “The International Hotel is now in lockdown as they prepare for an influx of illegal migrants. 500 rooms here. What are we playing at?”
Apsana Begum, left wing MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, slammed the far right protest at the Britannia hotel in her constituency. She said, “We are clear—refugees are welcome here.
“In the face of relentless demonisation and targeting, we continue to stand with migrants for their rights to safety and dignity.
“It’s the far right and their hateful ideology that are not welcome here.”
In Diss, the far right protest started with about 60 racists outside the Park Hotel, which houses refugees. It grew to around 150, with people chanting, “We want our country back.”
Around 50 people joined a counter-protest organised by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) and other groups.
An SUTR activist who was at the counter-demonstration told Socialist Worker, “It is very similar to Epping.”
The Home Office has announced that the hotel would house single adult men rather than families.
The fascists have seized on this to push the lie that refugees pose a particular “threat” to women and children in the area.
The activist said, “The far right claim there will be sexual assaults, using the age old racist trope to label anyone who is a refugee as a violent threat.”
In reality, it’s the far right who drive sexism and violence and are the real threat.
The campaigner said, “After about an hour, the situation became fraught and volatile. The fascists came up and threatened us, grabbing our placards. We stood our ground but we realised the situation was putting us in danger.
“We made the collective decision with other groups to talk away. We held the space for about an hour.”
The anti-racist added that people were “shocked at the levels of vitriol and Nazi bigotry”. The far right has called another demonstration outside of the Brook Hotel in nearby Norwich this Saturday. SUTR has called a counter-protest for 1.30 pm.
Nazi Tommy Robinson is mobilising his supporters to run riot in Epping this Sunday—and wants to go on the attack across Britain.
Every anti-racist should join the SUTR counter-demonstration at 2pm in Epping on Sunday.