Three arrests as Bell Hotel protesters clash with police

Daniel SandfordUK correspondentWatch: Flares and ‘Jerusalem’ bellows out of audio system in EppingThree folks have been arrested throughout a protest in opposition to the housing of asylum seekers at a lodge in Essex.An organised march was held in Epping, the place about 140 migrants are staying at The Bell Lodge.Essex Police had a dispersal order in place and set restrictions on the protest, saying it have to be completed by 20:00 and banners should not comprise “offensive or inflammatory language”.The pressure mentioned one man was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred whereas one other man and a girl have been arrested for breaching orders in place for the protest.About 200 folks gathered exterior the Epping Forest District Council constructing the place a girl climbed the steps and unfurled a Union flag earlier than being detained by officers after refusing to go away.A spokesperson for Essex Police mentioned her arrest was “categorically not for flying a Union Flag”, however as a result of the Civic Centre was not an space the place protesters have been allowed.One man was arrested when he refused to go away the world after the protest had concluded, breaching a piece 14 order. The person who was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred was detained “after an emblem was reported to have been set alight” throughout a protest on Friday, police mentioned.Earlier within the night, protesters stood behind metallic obstacles throughout the street from the Bell Lodge, waving at passing vehicles that sounded their horns.PA MediaProtesters have been informed they may not cowl their face or carry offensive signsThe lodge turned the point of interest of a number of demonstrations and counter-protests in current weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage lady final month. He has denied the fees.The case is at present going by way of the courts.On Friday, the Court docket of Enchantment overturned a short lived injunction that may have blocked asylum seekers from being housed on the Bell Lodge.Assistant chief constable Stuart Hooper mentioned: “We have constantly mentioned that we’ll all the time search to facilitate lawful protest however that doesn’t embrace a proper to commit crime, and we’ll take a agency strategy to anybody intent on doing that.”And to reiterate to the general public, the power of feeling in Epping isn’t misplaced on me – or anybody in Essex Police – and I might urge anybody who needs to make their voices heard to please do this peacefully and throughout the parameters outlined,” he mentioned.PAPolice have urged protests to stay peaceable The unrest got here as a lot of anti-asylum protests and counter-protests befell throughout England on Sunday, together with in London, Gloucester and Norwich.