Five arrests after masked men tried to enter asylum hotel, police say

The Metropolitan Police say they arrested five people after a group of masked men attempted to enter a hotel in west London housing asylum seekers on Saturday.

The men tried to get into the Crowne Plaza in Stockley Road in West Drayton through a rear entrance and damaged security fences, according to the Met.

Two anti-asylum groups, comprising around 500 people, marched to the Crowne Plaza at around 12:00 BST.

Fresh protests against hotels housing asylum seekers, as well as counter-demonstrations, also took place in parts of England and Scotland.

In Falkirk, Scotland, pro and anti-immigration protesters - numbering several hundred on each side - gathered outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Demonstrations also took place in locations including Warrington, Skegness, Barnwood in Gloucester and Portsmouth.

It came after the Court of Appeal on Friday overturned a temporary injunction, which would have blocked the Bell Hotel in Epping from housing asylum seekers.

Two men were charged following a protest in the town some hours after the ruling.

In west London on Saturday, a breakaway protest group moved towards the nearby Novotel hotel on Cherry Lane, where officers were also positioned, and some of the crowd also moved towards a Holiday Inn nearby.

Police said officers "enforced cordons in the area to prevent a breach of the peace and three arrests were made".

Two more arrests were made as police dispersed the crowd.

Two officers suffered minor injuries and protesters did not gain entry to any of the hotels.

A Section 35 dispersal order has now been put in place, allowing officers to direct people to leave the area and not return if they suspect they may cause disorder.

Cdr Adam Slonecki, the senior officer in charge of policing London over the weekend, said "further arrests will be made if we need to tackle disorder".

He added: "We understand strength of feeling on these issues, but where peaceful protest crosses the line into criminality, including injuries to our officers, we will take immediate action.

"We deployed additional officers to the area and five arrests have been made for offences including assault on a police officer, affray and violent disorder.

"Around 500 protesters were in the area, but most people have now dispersed from the immediate vicinity."

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