Councillors in Epping Forest have voted unanimously to call on the Government to ‘immediately and permanently’ close a hotel to asylum seekers after a series of violent protests at the site.
At a meeting of Conservative controlled Epping Forest District Council, its leader Chris Whitbread warned that residents’ ‘peaceful protests are being infiltrated by those on the extremes of politics’ and that the council ‘will be working tirelessly to get the Government to listen and close’ the hotel for asylum accommodation.
The protests outside the Bell Hotel, Epping, have so far led to 17 arrests over the last month.
These took place after a 38-year old man living at the hotel, Hadush Kebatu, from Ethiopa, was charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity. He denies the offences.
The council’s unanimously backed motion also calls for the managed closure of another site used to house asylum seekers, the Phoenix Hotel.
It will also write to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper setting out councillors’ concerns.
‘I'm worried that Epping will become a focus and a battleground for the agendas of those extremist groups and they will continue to stoke tensions as part of their wider campaigns’, added Whitbread.
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