Asylum seekers in Dunstable have said they are afraid to leave the hotel where they are staying because local people have been filming them when they go for a walk in the park.
The hotel in the Bedfordshire town housing the asylum seekers, who come from countries including Yemen, Eritrea, and Syria, has been the focus of protests by hundreds of local people, and the far-right group Patriotic Alternative has carried out a leafleting campaign naming the hotel and carrying the slogan: “You Pay. Migrants Stay.”
“They are recording us everywhere we go in the park,” one asylum seeker told the Guardian. “We thought in the UK we would have a better life, but nothing has changed. We don’t go outside most of the time. We are in a dangerous situation. We are in risk.”
John Gurney, a local councillor representing Dunstable Independents, who has opposed the recent arrival of asylum seekers to the hotel, posted on Facebook: “I have been sent various photos and videos of the guests at the […] hotel playing football, walking around outside, visiting a cafe, going to a park, etc. But to what end are the town’s genuine residents hanging around outside the hotel and taking photos of the people staying there?
“We can’t do anything about what’s happened. If you purposefully watch and follow the guests staying at […] and then post your photos and videos online it’s possible that unless an actual crime has been recorded, the police may pursue you for harassment. So, please don’t follow and photograph other people.”
Dunstable is not the only area that Patriotic Alternative has targeted with a leafleting campaign. The group also conducted one in Knowsley, Merseyside, before violent far-right protests there earlier this month outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.
According to the charity Hope Not Hate, which monitors far-right activity, Patriotic Alternative has coordinated with people in Skegness to stage a demonstration in the town centre on Saturday. The organisation has said a second anti-immigrant demonstration, billed as “Veterans Before Illegals”, organised by the former English Defence League activist Scott Pittsy is also due to take place on the same day in the town.
The Knowsley protest is thought to have been triggered by a video clip of unknown origin purportedly showing a man described as an asylum seeker housed at the hotel where the hostile protests were focused propositioning a schoolgirl.
After investigating, police said they would not be taking action against the man in the video.
It was widely reported last week that four Afghan teenage asylum seekers had been arrested in Kent in connection with an alleged rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl. However, police said that after investigating the alleged incident, no further action would be taken against the boys.
A spokesperson for Kent police said: “Four boys arrested following a report of a sexual offence in Dover have been released without charge. Kent police carried out a full, thorough and sensitive investigation into the incident which reportedly involved a teenage girl and a teenage boy on Monday 6 February 2023. No evidence of a criminal offence having taken place has been established and no further action is to be taken, unless any relevant additional information is received.”
While hostility towards asylum seekers is apparent in some areas, others have shown support. The asylum seekers staying at the hotel in Dunstable had previously lived in a hotel in Greenwich. When Home Office contractors informed them with little notice that they were being moved to the hotel in Dunstable, about 40 refused to leave. They have remained in the Greenwich hotel with the support of the local council.
Anthony Okereke, the leader of Greenwich council, said: “The recent actions of the Home Office forcibly removing refugees living in our borough is deplorable. This raises significant concerns over the way the Home Office works with local authorities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers in our borough and beyond.”
Denise Scott-McDonald, the cabinet member for health and adult social care at Greenwich council, said: “The removal of asylum seekers goes completely against our principles as a borough of refuge and sanctuary. That’s why we have been trying to meet and work with the Home Office to find an alternative solution. We remain steadfast in our condemnation of the removal of people against their will.”
