STAND-OFF

Marchers strike back at asylum hotel protesters

- BY MATTHEW YOUNG, ISAAC CROWSON and SOPHIE HUSKISSON

ANTI-RACISM campaigners faced off with immigration protesters yesterday at an asylum hotel at the centre of clashes.

Around 400 mostly locals were the first to show up outside The Bell Hotel around 2pm to demand the venue be shut down.

But an hour later counterprotesters arrived, accompanied by police with banners declaring "Don't let the far-right divide us".

Officers drafted in from 31 police forces surrounded the hotel and had to separate the two groups. At least three arrests were made.

The showdown comes after an Ethiopian asylum seeker staying at the hotel in Epping, Essex, was charged with sexually assaulting a girl days after arriving in the UK.

Lewis Nielson, of Stand Up To Racism, said: "Any issues of sexual assault and harassment should be taken incredibly seriously.