• Ar
  • Es
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Feature
  • Videos
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Feature
Videos
Infographs
In Pictures
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. US & Canada
  4. UK government 'complicit' in asylum seeker hotel assaults: Unions
US & Canada

UK government 'complicit' in asylum seeker hotel assaults: Unions

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 5 Mar 12:43
  • 3 Shares

The UK government has been chastised for its degrading language and for demonizing refugees.

  • People observe a fire outside a hotel housing asylum seekers after a protest in Knowsley, Merseyside, on 10 February. (Reuters)
    People observe a fire outside a hotel housing asylum seekers after a protest in Knowsley, Merseyside, on 10 February. (Reuters)

Following violent skirmishes involving hundreds of far-right protesters outside a hotel in Liverpool sheltering asylum seekers, the UK government has been chastised for its degrading language and scapegoating of asylum seekers.

On February 10, fifteen individuals were arrested, including a 13-year-old child, when hundreds of far-right demonstrators began violent battles outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley, Liverpool.

The protest came amid heightened tensions as record numbers of migrants are crossing the Channel in small boats, prompting the Conservative government to come up with a controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In a related development, some of Britain’s biggest unions have accused the government of being “complicit” in attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers and are urging members to “mobilize” against far-right groups seemingly emboldened by the rhetoric of senior Tory politicians.

The first significant engagement by trade unions on the increasingly politicized topic followed comments on Friday by the Conservative party's deputy chairman, Lee Anderson, who said he sympathized with protesters outside hotels.

His words come days after Home Secretary Suella Braverman said hotels giving refuge to asylum seekers were producing "understandable tensions", and protesters attacking them were not “racist or bigoted."

Patriotic Alternative (PA), a far-right group involved, was created in 2019 by Mark Collett, "an admirer of Adolf Hitler" who once proposed Mein Kampf as one of three books individuals should read. PA, Britain's fastest-growing far-right organization, distributed hundreds of anti-migrant flyers to households in Merseyside days before a brawl outside a Knowsley hotel sheltering asylum seekers.

Now the leaders of 13 main unions including Britain’s largest, Unison, which has more than 1.3 million members, the GMB, which has 600,000, along with the National Education Union, which has at least 450,000, have issued a joint statement saying, “We know whose side we are on when we see far-right mobs attacking refugees, and politicians playing the mood music.”

“In recent weeks, we have seen an alarming rise in violence and intimidation organized by the far right against refugees and refugee accommodation. The government is complicit in these attacks," the statement added, calling on workers and trade union members to show their solidarity and to mobilize against the far-right."

It accused the government's controversial policy of deporting asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda of fitting "with a long-running campaign of hyperbole and demonization."

A number of rallies outside hotels have been met with counter-demonstrations, many of which have been organized by "anti-fascist organizations".

Last year, far-right protesters visited hotels sheltering asylum seekers 253 times, more than double the number of visits reported in 2021. Amanda Smith, a hard-right English Constitution party member, is believed to have visited migrant accommodation 124 times last year.

Following a protest at a hotel sheltering asylum seekers on Friday, Rotherham's council leader warned that the far-right was "not welcome" there.

Read more: UK: 30,000 in asylum limbo for more than six years

  • asylum seeker
  • Anti-migrant
  • UK Government
  • far-right protesters
  • UK

Trending Now

All
Union Jack flags fly in the wind in front of the Parliament at Westminster bridge, in London, Britain, January 29, 2022. (REUTERS)

More than 750,000 UK households at risk of mortgage default: Regulator

Dominic Raab walks outside Number 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain, October 25, 2022. (REUTERS)

UK Justice Minister to host meeting to boost support for ICC

Most Read

Indonesian president Joko Widodo during an interview in Jakarta in 2016 (Reuters)

Widodo urges Indonesia to abandon Visa, MasterCard to be 'independent'

  • Asia
  • 16 Mar
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listens to opening remarks before testifying before the Senate Finance Committee about the President's proposed budget request for the fiscal year 2024, Thursday, March 16, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP)

US Debt ceiling ‘must be raised’ ahead of default: Treasury Secretary

  • US & Canada
  • 16 Mar
The Desert of the Real; Russia's SMO a year later

The Desert of the Real; Russia's SMO a year later

  • Europe
  • 14 Mar
Rallies held in Washington DC to protest US militarism

Peace rallies held in Washington DC to protest US militarism

  • US & Canada
  • 18 Mar

Read this

All
20 years on, US-led Iraq War atrocities revealed in numbers
MENA

20 years on, US-led Iraq War atrocities revealed in numbers

  • 20 Mar
People walk past rubble of damaged buildings, in the aftermath of the earthquake, in Aleppo, Syria February 7, 2023. (Reuters)
MENA

Donors pledge €7bln as quake aid for Turkey, Syria, fall vastly short

  • 20 Mar
so maliuhhhh
Africa

Somalia to record 135 deaths a day due to drought: UN study

  • Today
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US in April 2022 (AP)
US & Canada

20% of Americans agree with Greene's 'national divorce' between states

  • 20 Mar
Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS