More clashes and arrests at UK immigration protests
Demonstrators calling for mass ‘remigration’ gather in Manchester while in London protesters converge outside a hotel housing asylum seekers
Further scuffles broke out at anti-immigration protests in Britain on Saturday, with police making several arrests.
Demonstrators calling for mass “remigration” gathered in central Manchester, northwest England, at a march organised by the far-right “Britain First” group, which was confronted by anti-racism groups.
Meanwhile in central London, rival demonstrators converged outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, following similar recent events that have occasionally turned violent.
In Manchester, the two groups clashed briefly at the start of the protest before police split them up, according to an Agence France-Presse journalist at the scene.
“Send them back, don’t let them in – just stop them coming in, we’ve got hotels full of immigrants and we’ve got our own homeless people in the streets begging for food but nowhere to live,” said protester Brendan O’Reilly, 66.
Counterprotester Judy, a 60-year-old retired nurse, told Agence France-Presse she was there “because I don’t want to see people full of hate on the streets of Manchester”.