Protestors are clashing with police outside of a migrant hotels up and down the UK with with more than 30 demonstrations this weekend.
Protests have erupted in Bristol, xeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley, Canary Wharf, Aberdeen and Perth in Scotland, and Mold in Wales this weekend.
It comes after a landmark ruling allowed for The Bell Hotel in epping, Essex, to be closed to asylum seekers.
Residents in other towns and cities across the country have followed suit, waving Union Jack and St George’s flags outside of local asylum hotels.
In Newcastle, more than 100 people waved Union Jack flags and held up banners outside the New Bridge Hotel, where around 800 male asylum seekers are being housed.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
They chanted: ‘Stop the boats! Get them out! Send them back!’
They also shouted about ‘saving women and children’.
But counter-protestors were also at the scene, and shouted: ‘No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here!’
Refugee Ariya is a teenage victim of torture who made a treacherous journey to the UK by boat after fleeing the dictatorship in Iran.
At a protest earlier this month, the 18-year-old said: ‘We all feel good about the counter protest, but we are also stressed because we don’t know what is going to happen.
‘I have been in the hotel for one year and no-one has taken the time to interview me before.
‘I have come from Iran. I had to leave because I was tortured. I got into trouble with the authorities for changing my religion.
‘The journey here was very hard. I would not be here if I did not have to be.
‘My parents know I am safe, but I am not able to be in contact with them very much.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
