Policing Group to stage protest outside city hotel

POLICE in Bristol are gearing up for another protest about immigration and the use of converted hotels to house people seeking asylum on Saturday.

- Tristan CORK

A counter-protest is also planned, and police said they are putting a plan in place to allow both protests but keep the peace.

The "Bristol Patriots" Facebook group has advertised a protest outside a hotel in Redcliffe, which is taking place from 1pm on Saturday, while a coalition of anti-racist and antifascist groups have announced that they will meet up an hour or so earlier to defend the hotel.

The hotel was the scene of violence last summer. An anti-immigration protest planned to march from Castle Park to Redcliff Hill, and a large group of people made it to the hotel, which had temporarily been left unprotected by police.

Police later told government researchers they had been sent by superiors to the wrong hotel in Redcliffe, and a group of counter-protesters linked arms to protect the hotel from the anti-immigration protesters amid violent scenes, before police reinforcements eventually arrived.