Disturbances have broken out in the Knowsley area of Liverpool after several hundred demonstrators from the far-right group Patriotic Alternative protested against asylum seekers who have been housed in a local hotel by the Home Office.
Eyewitnesses said that the protest at the Suites hotel turned violent when far-right supporters set a police van and its equipment on fire.
Anti-fascist demonstrators also attended and one said the far-right protesters had split into three groups and surrounded the smaller number of anti-fascist protesters.
Clare Moseley, founder of the charity Care4Calais which supports asylum seekers and who attended the demonstration to support those in the hotel, said: “I don’t know if the asylum seekers will be safe. I am deeply shocked and shaken by what I have witnessed in Liverpool tonight.
“I have sympathy for anyone in our county who is concerned for our services or their own future, but terrorising victims of war and torture is unforgivable. Our politicians’ rhetoric of hate and division is destroying our society and our British values. My greatest concern is whether the police can keep the people in this hotel safe both tonight and in the future.”
Care4Calais tweeted: “We are trapped in the car park, surrounded by hundreds of far-right protesters who have broken through police cordons.”
Merseyside police said there had been no reports of any injuries.
In a statement, it said: “Additional officers are in the area to deal with these incidents. We have also implemented a number of road closures on the East Lancs Road and would urge motorists to avoid the area and those in the area to disperse.”
Knowsley’s Labour MP Sir George Howarth said the demonstration was triggered by an “alleged incident posted on social media” and criticised misinformation about refugees being “feather-bedded” at the hotel.
In a statement, he said: “I have referred an alleged incident posted on social media, which has triggered a demonstration outside the Suites hotel, to Merseyside police and Knowsley council.
“Until the police have investigated the matter, it is too soon to jump to conclusions and the effort on the part of some to inflame the situation is emphatically wrong.
“If an offence has been committed, the police should deal with it appropriately through due process. In addition, the misinformation about refugees being feather-bedded is untrue and intended to paint a picture that does not at all represent the facts.
“The people of Knowsley are not bigots and are welcoming to people escaping from some of the most dangerous places in the world in search of a place of safety. Those demonstrating against refugees at this protest tonight do not represent this community. We are not like that and overwhelmingly behave with sympathy and kindness to others regardless of where they come from.”
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