Migrants at Merseyside hotel placed under curfew following riots

Police extend hotel curfew after migrants targeted in ‘violent riot’ that saw 15 people arrested

• Police have imposed a daytime curfew at the Suites Hotel until 1pm tomorrow
• It comes after protesters clashed outside the Knowsley property last weekend 
• Police have also provided migrants with ‘security awareness training’ 

Police have imposed a daytime curfew for asylum-seekers living in a hotel after they were targeted by protesters at the weekend, it has emerged.

Merseyside Police put restrictions in place at the Suites Hotel in Knowsley and provided migrants with ‘security awareness training’ after demonstrators clashed outside the property on Friday night.

A police officer and two members of the public were injured in the violent clash that saw 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, get arrested.

Officers have put a dispersal zone in place around the hotel until 1pm tomorrow in an attempt to ensure there is ‘no repeat of violent disorder,’ The Times reported.

Police have imposed a daytime curfew for asylum-seekers living in the Suites Hotel in Knowsley after they were targeted by protesters at the weekend. Pictured: Officers outside the hotel on Saturday

Merseyside Police have put restrictions in place at the Suites Hotel in Knowsley and provided guests with ‘security awareness training’. Pictured: Officers are seen detaining people outside the hotel on Friday night

A police officer and two members of the public were injured in the violent clash that saw 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, get arrested. Pictured: Firefighters douse a burned out police riot van in Knowsley on Friday night after a riot broke out

Missiles were thrown towards officers in Prescot, Knowsley and damage was caused to a police vehicle as violence erupted outside the hotel on Friday evening.

Protesters chanted ‘get them out’ during the riot as police were forced to wear protective clothing including riot gear shields and helmets.

Further demonstrations have been planned for this upcoming weekend, but despite the previous riots, the migrants are not being relocated, the newspaper alleged.

Instead officers have provided some asylum-seekers with safety training and have extended the daytime curfew.

Some migrants have been permitted to temporarily stay with family and friends, but were only authorised to do so under very specific conditions. 

The Home Office has previously deemed the violence as ‘totally unacceptable’ and has vowed to work closely with police to ‘ensure the safety of those in our care and the wider community.’

MailOnline has approached Merseyside Police and the Home Office for comment. 

On Friday evening missiles were thrown towards officers in Prescot and damage was caused to a police vehicle

Fifteen people were arrested during a demonstration outside the hotel in Knowsley on Friday

Meanwhile, political leaders have been urged to take a clear stand in condemning violence against asylum seekers in an open letter by charities that warns last weekend’s disorder could be repeated across the country.  

Organisations signed the letter following ‘horrifying’ scenes outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, Merseyside housing asylum seekers on Friday, which saw fireworks thrown at police, and a police van be attacked with hammers and set alight.

The letter, coordinated by coalition campaign Together With Refugees, criticised ‘inflammatory language’ and policies that ‘demonise’ people seeking refuge, while warning of a ‘high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country’.

READ MORE: Revealed – Video that sparked migrant hotel riot: Clip of schoolgirl, 15, being ‘hassled for her phone number by man, 25,’

 

 

The letter has more than 100 signatories, including Liverpool City of Sanctuary, Care4Calais, Share Knowsley and the Refugee Council. 

On Tuesday the charities said people in the asylum system ‘have already suffered terribly’, fleeing war and persecution in places like Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria and Iran.

Describing Britain’s asylum system as ‘broken’, the organisations said people are forced into a period of ‘limbo’ as they wait for a decision on their claim to stay in the UK, and end up in hotels which they called ‘a completely inappropriate form of accommodation’.

The charities called on those in charge to ‘create a system that is fair and compassionate, and brings cohesion instead of division’.

They said: ‘Having already experienced great hardship, these men, women and children who come here for protection are now faced with violence, fuelled by inflammatory language of ‘invasion’ and policies that demonise them.

‘The responsibility to create a system that is fair and compassionate, and brings cohesion instead of division, lies with our decision makers.

‘With the high risk of more premeditated extremist attacks around the country, leaders of all parties must now take a clear stand and condemn any further violence against those who come here to find safety, and set out the action they will take to prevent it.’

The charities said those responsible for inciting anger and violence ‘bring shame on this country’ and are in the minority.

They added: ‘This does not reflect the people of Britain. This is not who we are.’

Charities described violent scenes outside a hotel housing asylum seekers as ‘horrifying’

A burnt police van after a demonstration outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley on Friday night

Knowsley MP Sir George Howarth has said the some of the demonstration outside the Suites Hotel was triggered by an ‘alleged incident posted on social media’ and criticised misinformation about refugees being ‘feather-bedded’ at the hotel.

It was revealed on Saturday that the incident was sparked by fury over an online video of a schoolgirl who said she was sexually harassed by a 25-year-old man allegedly staying at the hostel.

The clip showed the man asking the 15-year-old, wearing a school uniform, for her number. The teenager, who filmed the exchange on her mobile phone, asked the bearded man his age.

When he replied that he was 25, she says: ‘You don’t do this in this country. You go to jail if you do this.’ 

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