RIOT POLICE ON ALERT AS MORE PROTESTS PLANNED

Hundreds arrested as Palestine demo and anti-migrants rallies erupt...with anger to continue

- By Marco Giannangeli

THOUSANDS of riot police were braced for yet more protests today following yesterday's so-called national day of action.

More than 370 people were arrested in central London as around 700 people gathered to support the banned terror group Palestine Action.

And hundreds more turned up across England to vent their anger at the decision to place migrants and asylum seekers in comfortable hotels at a cost of millions to the taxpayer.

Experts had long predicted the good summer weather would encourage the same conditions that triggered mass disorder last year. "This wave of protests was very much predicted and anticipated," a counter-terror source said last night.

"People have concerns - some of them legitimate, some not but it almost doesn't matter. They are angry because it doesn't feel like anybody is listening to them." More than 3,000 riot police were placed on standby in a coordinated effort by national police chiefs to anticipate flashpoints across the country.

Resentment against so-called migrant hotels showed little sign of abating, with activist group The Great British National Protest claiming people joined demonstrations in more than 20 locations.

The biggest protest, however, was spurred not by hotel fury but the arrest of two men, reported to be Afghan asylum seekers, charged over the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

Hundreds marched through Nuneaton in Warwickshire carrying St George's Cross and Union flags while playing music, such as Rule Britannia, the national anthem and Sweet Caroline.

It followed the disclosure that Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, had been charged with rape, while Mohammad Kabir, 23, was charged with kidnap, strangulation, and aiding and abetting the rape of a girl under 13 after an alleged incident in the town.