{"id":363591,"date":"2025-08-22T03:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T03:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/363591\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T03:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T03:08:25","slug":"inside-the-live-streamed-right-wing-protests-against-asylum-hotels-in-britain-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/363591\/","title":{"rendered":"inside the live-streamed right-wing protests against asylum hotels in Britain \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is 4pm on a sunny Saturday in Didsbury, an affluent suburb south of Manchester. About 30 right-wing protesters assemble at the guarded entrance to the Britannia Country House Hotel, which houses 500 asylum seekers<\/a> \u2013 all young men.<\/p>\n

The protesters, who want the hotel to shut, seem rudderless, standing around as if they\u2019re not quite sure what to do. A few chat amiably while others gently wave flags of St George. The odd passing car beeps in support. But it is all a bit plodding.<\/p>\n

Suddenly they are galvanised. \u201cThey\u2019re up at the other entrance,\u201d says a man, an excitable, bald cockney who appears to be live-streaming \u2013 he speaks constantly on a mobile video call and says \u201cwell, folks\u201d each time he addresses his digital audience.<\/p>\n

Well folks, he says, time to go. The path to the other entrance 200 metres away is narrow and the road is busy, so we walk in single file. Everybody carries a patriotic flag or banner, except The Irish Times and a local photographer as we bring up the rear. Looking like a very British, no-touch conga line, we snake our way along to see who \u201cthey\u201d are.<\/p>\n

They are anti-fascist, left-wing counter protesters, also about 30 strong. Earlier, there were rumours online that the right-wing protest had been cancelled, while a left-wing counter-protest, planned to defend a nearby mosque, was also said to be called off.<\/p>\n

The rumours were untrue \u2013 just mutually-mischievous antics. The two opposing sides have now found each other at the hotel\u2019s second entrance. Some of the right-wing crowd seem excited and relieved. Now they have a purpose, somewhere to direct their ire. The left-wingers, meanwhile, also have targets for their anti-fascist chants.<\/p>\n

They meet on a lawn near the hotel, separated by a line of police. The games begin.<\/p>\n

\"AA counter-protest at the anti-asylum hotel protest in Didsbury, south Manchester. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

Standing back to observe this politically-charged pantomime of symbiotic shouting, it is soon apparent that at least seven or eight of the right-wing, anti-migrant side are live-streaming the whole thing, or recording with commentary. Gary, the local photographer, says he has seen up to 40 live-streamers at previous protests in the Manchester area.<\/p>\n

Many have large audiences online. The Ginger Patriot, a Stockport YouTuber aged in his early 20s who told The Irish Times his real name was Ben, has posted more than 30 videos with an average of close to 20,000 views each. He started just two months ago.<\/p>\n

This is Protest 2.0, broadcast to all corners of anti-migrant Britain.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s Didsbury gathering was one of 20 protests around the UK against migrant hotels that could be found advertised last weekend on Facebook groups frequented by right-wing activists. Their movement thrives online.<\/p>\n

Areas targeted included Stockport, Aldershot, Leeds, Hull, Newcastle, Southampton and, in Scotland, Aberdeen and Falkirk. The protesters see themselves as patriotic Brits opposing out-of-control government policy on asylum seekers, whom they say are really illegals arriving in record numbers on small boats from France to game the system.<\/p>\n

There are more than 200 hotels in Britain housing about 32,000 asylum seekers at a cost to British taxpayers of about \u00a32 billion (\u20ac2.3 billion) per year. The UK\u2019s Labour government has pledged to cease using hotels for migrants by 2029. Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK<\/a>, which has backed many protests, wants the hotels shut immediately and refugees deported.<\/p>\n

Right-wing protesters have seized on the issue this summer. A grassroots group, Great British National Protest (GBNP), led by former soldier Richard Donaldson (33) from Chester, has sprung up to help co-ordinate the mostly locally-organised protests.<\/p>\n

Several have focused on hotels where migrants have been arrested for alleged offences.<\/p>\n

Just over a week before the Didsbury protest, Ethiopian asylum seeker Tadi Alemeyeha (22), who lives at the Britannia Country House, appeared in Manchester Magistrates Court charged with the sexual assault of a woman, which he denies. Anger over the case fuelled last Saturday\u2019s Didsbury protest.<\/p>\n

Protesters at another Britannia asylum hotel in Canary Wharf in London were also enraged last week, when a migrant was found inside the flat of a local elderly woman.<\/p>\n

There were scuffles between protesters and police at Canary Wharf, and also at the Bell Hotel in Epping in Essex, over which the local council on Tuesday won a landmark court case to prevent it operating as an asylum property on planning grounds.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hadush Kebatu (41), also from Ethiopia, and a resident of the Bell Hotel, was charged last month with the alleged propositioning and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in Epping, eight days after he arrived in Britain on a small boat. He denies it.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Britannia Country House Hotel in Didsbury, south Manchester. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

Back at Didsbury, the protest takes place three days before the Epping court decision buoyed the wider movement. Protesters hope the planning precedent leads to the \u201cdomino-effect\u201d closure of other asylum hotels.<\/p>\n

As the two protest groups at Didsbury swap insults, The Ginger Patriot takes a break from filming to argue that mainstream media incorrectly paint his side as \u201cviolent far-right thugs\u201d. Any violence, he insists, usually comes from left-wing counter protesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what made me want to start documenting the demonstrations,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He arrived at the protest with another YouTuber, whose handle is It\u2019s Only Hugo. This man, aged in his late 20s, says he is just \u201ctrying to document the problems with mass illegal immigration and the systematic attack on the British people by their own government\u201d.<\/p>\n

The invective between both sides hots up but there is no violence. The left-wing side, who welcome reinforcements, seem to be winning the chanting war.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn encounter between a Traveller woman and Romany activist Lolo Jones. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

One exchange catches the eye. Two women on opposing sides walk forward to vigorously debate the issue across the police line.<\/p>\n

On the left-wing side is British-born Romany woman Lolo Jones, dressed in colourful traditional clothing. On the anti-migrant side is an English-born Irish Traveller woman, who says she has been on the housing list for 11 years with her children while refugees get accommodation \u201cfor free\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese hairy-arsed men think it\u2019s okay to come over here looking for handouts while they abandon their wives and kids in war-torn countries,\u201d she says, pointing at the hotel. \u201cAs a mother, I\u2019d never leave my children in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, I ask Jones if, as a Romany woman, she feels kinship with the Traveller woman. She says she recognises her: they were both on the same side on a protest last Christmas against police treatment of Traveller and Gypsy youth in Manchester.<\/p>\n

The chanting continues for another two hours. Eventually the two sides peter out. The live-streamers run out of things to film.<\/p>\n

\"LocalLocal businesswoman and Reform UK local elections candidate Sarah White. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

Three days later, it is Tuesday evening in Epping outside the Bell Hotel. Hours earlier, the local council succeeded in its legal bid to get the hotel closed for asylum seekers. Now, the crowd outside is jubilant. They\u2019re cracking open cans, cheering, shouting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been at every protest here this summer bar one,\u201d says a beaming Sarah White, a local business owner and mother of three who lives in nearby Chigwell. She is wrapped in a St George\u2019s flag. White will be a Reform UK candidate in next May\u2019s local elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at how this community came together, week in, week out. No matter how long it takes, you will have the result you want in the end. It might be easier now for other local areas to get the same result if they have asylum hotels they want closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

An asylum seeker arrives back at the hotel from the direction of the village. He is taunted by the boisterous crowd as he enters. \u201cPack your bags, son,\u201d shouts a man in a Burberry cap. The asylum seeker looks frightened.<\/p>\n

I ask White if she has any thoughts for the men who live in the Bell Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few weeks ago, one of them spat at us. They\u2019re not that frightened. You don\u2019t suddenly land on British soil and gain the morals of someone born and bred here.\u201d<\/p>\n

An ice-cream van pulls up. Locals in celebratory mood queue for cones.<\/p>\n

Another young man of Middle Eastern appearance arrives at the hotel from the direction of the village, but turns on his heels and walks off briskly when he spots the crowd.<\/p>\n

The evening closes in, the sun goes down. The problems for Britain\u2019s asylum system officials grow and grow.<\/p>\n

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