Asylum-Hotel Protests Spread to Another Town
The wave of protests around asylum accommodation spread to a fresh town over the weekend, the BBC reported, following nights of disorder in Thetford in which police officers were injured. The unrest, centred on hotels and buildings used to house asylum seekers, has revived memories of the violence that swept England last summer. Police have appealed for calm and warned that those involved in violence face prosecution.
The spread of the protests will alarm a government already struggling to show it can control both the borders and the disorder that anger over immigration has fuelled. Police have pointed to the role of social media in drawing crowds and spreading false claims about asylum seekers, and warned that agitators are exploiting local grievances. Ministers have condemned the violence as criminal thuggery. The unrest unfolds amid a fevered national argument, with Reform UK pressing hardline plans and the government on the defensive. Watch whether the protests widen further or tougher policing contains them.