Migrant hotel protest highlights divided opinion

Bradley Gerrard reports on demonstrations held in Exeter over asylum seeker accommodation

- Bradley Gerrard

PROTESTS outside an Exeter hotel understood to be accommodating asylum seekers are dividing political opinion.

The Hampton by Hilton hotel near Exeter Airport was the scene of a protest last Saturday, and some social media posts have suggested another could be planned this weekend.

Two opposing campaign messages were in evidence at the hotel one side in favour of stricter immigration laws and against the placement of migrants in hotels without communities being consulted first, and the other arguing that asylum seekers should be welcomed and suggesting that major political parties have whipped up their presence into a frenzy.

The demonstration, posters for which appear to have come from an organisation called the Great British National Protest, have mostly been promoted on social media platforms, such as Facebook, also being used to advertise counteraction.

A video of the protest, filmed by someone who goes by the online name troybot14, was posted on YouTube, and has been verified by Devon and Cornwall Police and Stand up to Racism as being from the event last Saturday, August 9.

The individual filming talks to police, and also to protesters on the other side of the debate who are expressing their support for the migrants.

A brief conversation with a security guard on the edge of the hotel grounds appears to suggest the asylum seekers in the hotel are mostly women or families.

The lack of single male asylum seekers is welcomed by the individual and a co-protester who is also filming proceedings.

The issue of the government's finances is also expressed on the video, with a suggestion that the protesters are concerned about what they view as the cost of looking after asylum seekers, and frustration about the assistance provided to them amid an era of stretched public resources.