Asylum hotels face at least 27 protests nationwide this weekend after Epping court ruling

Asylum hotels across the country will be hit by a wave of anti-immigration protests this weekend.

Dozens of demonstrations were being planned on Thursday as it emerged that a record 111,000 people had claimed asylum in the UK during Sir Keir Starmer's first year in office, reports The Times.

At least 27 protests have been organised after a High Court judge ordered the removal of migrants from a hotel in Epping, Essex, on Tuesday, with many communities hoping to replicate the results of the landmark ruling in their own areas by taking to the streets.

Anti-racism groups are also scrambling to co-ordinate counter-protests, claiming towns and cities could experience the most disruption since the riots last summer.

The Times has found that at least eight demonstrations are set to take place on Friday in Cardiff, Chichester, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Leeds, Orpington, Cheshunt and Altrincham.

Some 14 more — in towns and cities including Hawley, Cannock, Nottingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Tamworth, Wakefield, Liverpool, Oldham, Exeter, Oxford, Perth and Aberdeen — are planned for Saturday. Another two are being organised in Manchester and Dudley on Sunday.

Next week, hotels in Falkirk, Gloucester and Stockport have also been earmarked for action.

The High Court ruling was delivered after a resident of The Bell Hotel in Epping, which has been housing migrants for years, was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl.

The alleged assault triggered a series of protests, with up to 2,000 demonstrators descending on the building to demand its closure. Many gathered peacefully, but others reacted violently and 16 protesters were charged. Figures from the far-right group Homeland had helped to organise the demonstrations.

Epping Forest district council was granted a temporary injunction to stop the hotel housing migrants, on the basis that its owners had not applied for planning permission for a change in its use. The council also argued that its closure was needed to keep local residents safe and remove "the catalyst for violent protests in public places".

The ruling appears to have inspired people across the country to demonstrate in the hope that similar action can be taken to close hotels in their communities.

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, encouraged more people to march on their local asylum hotels and "express their genuine concerns in a peaceful, friendly way". He said he condemned "all violent, non-peaceful protests".

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, echoed his call to action saying residents should put pressure on their councils to "go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out".

Other Reform figures have been sharing partially-inaccurate lists on social media naming hundreds of hotels across the UK. Some of the hotels being targeted are understood to house families rather than single men.

Ryan Coogan, previously the Reform candidate to be the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, published a list of 262 hotels supposedly housing asylum seekers on his Facebook page earlier this month, which has been shared 1,000 times. The government is only using 210 hotels.

"This list is compiled by the public and my community of followers, may not be 100 per cent accurate … and should not be relied upon as a definitive record," he said. Reform was contacted for comment.

Local authorities across the country said the Epping ruling set a precedent for copycat litigation.