Migrant fears grip town

'There are millions of people fed up with immigration.'

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Ten days after the riots, the scars of violence are still visible outside the hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, northern England, where many residents remain shellshocked and worried about immigration.

"It was terrifying," Clive Wingate, who lives near the now-infamous Holiday Inn Express, said. "When they were lighting the bins to push into the building, where there were people inside, what were their intentions?" the 66-year-old pensioner asked.

The images from Rotherham were among the most striking of the recent riots across England and Northern Ireland. Hundreds of men, some draped in the English flag, gathered outside the hotel chanting "kick them out" while outnumbered police came under fire from bricks and burning objects.

The nationwide riots worst in the country since 2011 - began after a knife attack that killed three girls during a dance class on 29 July in Southport, another northern town.

False rumours that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker spread and although police corrected the record, anti-immigration riots erupted for more than a week, leading to more than 1000 arrests.