As the anti-immigration protests and riots in England entered their fifth day on Saturday, hundreds of people surrounded a believed migrant hotel in Rotherham, setting fire to the building and clashing with police.
Anti-immigration protesters descended upon the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire on Sunday afternoon as nationwide unrest continues in the wake of the killing of three young British girls at a children’s dance party in Southport by an alleged Rwandan-heritage teenager.
The hotel, which has previously seen protests against housing supposed asylum seekers — many likely illegal boat migrants — at taxpayer expense. According to The Telegraph, the crowd could be heard chanting “Get them out”.
Footage posted on social media showed rioters throwing fire extinguishers and other objects at the retreating lines of police, while others were seen breaking into the hotel, which had partially been set on fire.
It comes as nationwide protest and riots broke out across the country on Saturday, many of which occurred in working-class, deep strongholds of the Labour Party such as Bristol, Liverpool, and Manchester.
A chair is thrown at police officers as trouble flares during an anti-immigration protest outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Picture date: Sunday August 4, 2024. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
Rotherham, also a Labour stronghold, is best known internationally for the infamous grooming gang scandal, in which at least 1,400 girls — some as young as nine — were groomed by Pakistani child rape gangs for years as the local Labour council and other officials turned a blind eye to the abuse over fears of being seen as racist.
The protests have become the first major crisis for recently-elected Labour Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer, who has faced heavy criticism for failing to take control of the situation.
Amid the power vacuum, there have been increasing calls from the left for a radical response. For example, Lord Walney, the government’s independent adviser on political violence, has suggested that coronavirus-style lockdown measures could be put in place to quell the riots.
On Sunday, former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf suggested that the government deploy the army to put down the anti-immigration protesters.
“This pogrom against Muslims and People of Colour is going to cost lives unless these far-right thugs are stopped,” he said in response to the riot at the Rotherham migrant hotel.
ROTHERHAM, ENGLAND – AUGUST 4: Riot police clash with anti-migration protesters outside of the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, which is being used as an asylum hotel, on August 4, 2024 in Rotherham, United Kingdom. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
There have also been growing calls for Starmer to recall Parliament from its summer recess, including from top Tories such as leadership candidate Priti Patel and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
“It does seem to me that if these riots are going to go on, which it looks like they are, he needs to bring people back to explain what he’s doing,” Sir Iain told The Telegraph.
“It looks like he hasn’t done anything so far, and the questions will be what are you doing? There need to be serious questions about the advice they have received.”
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