Par Alexander Kazakevich & Euronews avec AP
Published on
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Protesters went down to the streets throughout the United Kingdom on Saturday, especially in the city of Liverpool, to protest the accommodation of asylum seekers in hotels.
Several gatherings under the slogan “Abolish Asylum System” (“let’s abolish the asylum system”), launched by right -wing political parties, have also held in Bristol, Newcastle and London.
In Liverpool, a counter-mailver organized by the NGO “Stand Up to Racism” also took place.
Police were seen moving away from anti-migrant demonstrators and repelling counter-demonstration.
These events follow a decision rendered this week by the High Court, which prohibited an Epping hotel in Essex from hosting asylum seekers.
Right’s political leaders have taken advantage of it to encourage municipalities hostile to the reception of migrants to seize justice.
Legal obligation to house asylum seekers
In the United Kingdom, the debate on how to control illegal immigration, which affects all Western countries, has focused on the arrival of migrants crossing the English Channel on overloaded boats managed by smugglers and as well as the accommodation of thousands of asylum seekers at state costs throughout the country.
Nigel Farage, leader of the far -right party Reform UK, unveiled his project on on Saturday “Massive deportations“Migrants who crossed the Channel if his party formed the next British government.
In an interview published in the Saturday edition of The Times, Farage said that it would withdraw Great Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and would sign agreements with Afghanistan, Eritrea and other main countries of origin in order to repatriate illegal migrants.
The executive is legally required to house asylum seekers. The use of hotels to do this was a marginal question until 2020, when the number of exiles increased sharply and the conservative government of the time had to find new solutions.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 27,000 unauthorized arrivals on British soil, almost 50 % more than at the same time last year and more than the number recorded at the same period in 2022, the year when 45,755 people had landed, a record.
The number of asylum seekers hosted in hotels amounted to just over 32,000 at the end of June, according to figures from the Interior Ministry published Thursday. This figure is up 8 % compared to the previous year (29,500), but remains well below the peak of more than 56,000 reached in September 2023.
A total of 111,084 people asked for asylum between June 2024 and June 2025, the highest number for a period of 12 months since the start of data recording in 2001.
In May, the National Audit Office said that people living temporarily in hotels represented 35 % of all beneficiaries of asylum accommodation.
Video editor • Rory Elliott Armstrong
