A protest in the English town of Cheshunt, north of London. Around 250 people gathered to demonstrate against the UK's asylum policy. "Protect our children", the posters read. At the same time, a counter-protest was organised, reports ARD.
In Cheshunt, the demonstrators fear that more migrants will be accommodated in the local hotel, where refugees are already staying. The reason for their concerns: a court ruling this week ruled that migrants in the neighbouring town of Epping must be accommodated in another hotel - it is assumed that they will be sent to Cheshunt. In other cities, they are also demonstrating - mostly peacefully.
Protests for several weeks
Protests in Britain against the government's migration policy have been going on for several weeks, local media write. The demonstrators are calling for deportations and have planned protests in front of at least 26 hotels where migrants are accommodated.
At the end of July, an incident in the city of Epping fueled the discontent. A man living in a local hotel was arrested and later charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual acts, writes the BBC. Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, denies the crimes and is being held in custody. Local authorities are investigating the case.
Currently, about 32,000 migrants are accommodated in about 200 hotels in the United Kingdom, ARD recalls. The Conservative government, which was in power until July 2024, implemented this policy and signed contracts with a number of hotels, as other options for accommodating asylum seekers were more expensive and complicated.
No result from the migration agreement with France
After taking office, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to reduce illegal migration - most notably by stopping the crossing of the English Channel from France to England. So far, however, his government has achieved nothing on this issue. Starmer promised that he would prosecute smugglers who bring people across the Channel and signed an agreement with France to work together.
The two countries agreed to take migrants from each other, with the aim of reducing the number of boat crossings of the Channel. So far, however, no one has returned from England to France. Many Britons are unhappy with the government, which they say has done nothing of what it promised in terms of migration.
Triumph for right-wing populists
Political tensions have increased especially after the court ruled that asylum seekers should be moved from Epping - the reason was the protests in front of the hotel where the asylum seekers are staying. After that, the right-wing populist party Reform UK announced that it would file claims to move migrants from other English cities where it has a majority in local government.
The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, recommended that city councilors from her party also start legal proceedings against the accommodation of refugees in hotels in the country. This situation is an absolute triumph for Nigel Farage's party - Reform UK. He is already talking about a "crisis" and calls for mass deportations.
Members of a far-right nationalist party are helping to organize protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, the British "Guardian" reports, citing a series of Facebook posts and groups on the social network created in recent weeks. Activists from the Homeland Party, which was formed as a breakaway organisation from the Patriotic Alternative, the largest far-right group in Britain, have set up a number of online groups in an attempt to spread the protests that began around the Epping hotel case.
The Labour government wants to appeal the Epping court ruling, while the Secretary of State for Security Dan Jarvis said that the government also wanted to close the hotels for migrants, but it takes time to do this in an appropriate way.
The number of delayed asylum decisions in the UK is significant, writes ARD. By June 2025, 111,000 people had applied for asylum - a new record number. 91,000 of them are still waiting for a decision.
Author: Christoph Prösl (ARD)