An enraged far-right mob have stormed into a hotel housing migrants and asylum seekers, throwing chairs and spraying fire extinguishers at riot police, while setting bins, a generator and furniture alight.
About 700 violent anti-immigration protesters covered in balaclavas and draped in St George’s flags fought with officers trying to protect the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
At least 10 officers have been injured in the chaos outside the hotel on the northern outskirts of the post-industrial town. One was left unconscious following a head injury, another suffered a suspected fractured elbow and other suspected broken bones.
It marks yet another day of violent riots in Britain’s streets, with crowds in Middlesbrough setting fire to a car and pushing burning wheelie bins at police, while thugs in Rotherham broke windows and doors as riot police used shields to force them back.
South Yorkshire Police said one person has been arrested on suspicion of public order offences.
Meanwhile, a peaceful protest in Bolton fell into disarray when two groups of demonstrators clashed. One charged towards the town hall, yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ while the other waved England flags.
Comparable scenes could be seen in Weymouth, as about 400 protesters from opposite sides converged on the seafront to chant at each other. One side could be heard chanting ‘Nazis go home’, while the other screamed ‘Tommy Robinson’.
The outbursts come after three young girls were stabbed to death in Southport on July 29.
While images from Rotherham have shown some occupants looking out of the hotel window onto rioters, it is unclear if the migrants and asylum seekers accommodated in the property have been able to evacuate. MailOnline has contacted the Home Office.
Other images seem to show far-right protesters breaching the hotel. The BBC reported that balaclava-clad people were seen forcing their way inside.
Objects and bits of wood were hurled at officers who had lined up in front of the building, with at least one cop in riot gear being carried away by their colleagues. The grass near the hotel appeared to have been set on fire as well.
Keir Starmer professed rioters would ‘regret’ taking part in ‘far-right thuggery’ after a fifth day of violence in England, as the Government announced emergency security measures for mosques amid the threat of further disorder.
A group of young men in Rotherham held a banner that read ‘we’re not far right, we’re just right’ while another placard being waved around said: ‘Stopping the boats means stopping the stabbings’.
As demonstrators broke through hotel windows to enter the building, missiles, including glass bottles and beer cans, were hurled at the police.
A Union Jack mask was observed totally covering one person’s face as they screamed derogatory chants and brandished a big England flag outside the hotel.
The protest has already been deeply criticised by anti-racism groups as well as campaigner Brendan Cox, whose MP wife Jo Cox was killed in her West Yorkshire constituency in 2016.
He said: ‘The scenes in Rotherham aren’t a protest, they aren’t even a far right riot, they are an ongoing attempt to murder the men, women and children inside by burning them alive.
‘The stench of these days will hang around those who incited and justified it for the rest of their lives.’
An anti-racism counter protest at the scene increased tensions for police, who arrived to discover banners reading: ‘Refugees welcome: Stop the far right.’
South Yorkshire Police said several of its officers were injured during ‘deplorable acts of violence’ outside the Holiday Inn Express in the Manvers area of Rotherham today.
The violence has wounded at least eleven cops, including one who was rendered unconscious after sustaining a head injury, another who may have had a shattered elbow, and others who may have suffered broken bones.
No hotel employees or residents have been injured, police said.
Officers regained access to the hotel from protesters and continued to disperse the group from the area.
A heavy police presence remained outside the hotel and in the surrounding area over the course of the evening and into the following day.
Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield said: ‘Today in Rotherham we have seen our officers attacked and at least ten injured, significant damage caused and a fire set outside a hotel full of terrified residents and staff. The mindless actions of those today have achieved nothing other than sheer destruction and leaving members of the public and the wider community in fear.
‘The behaviour we witnessed has been nothing short of disgusting. While it was a smaller number of those in attendance who chose to commit violence and destruction, those who simply stood on and watched remain absolutely complicit in this. Those who choose to spread misinformation and hate online also need to take responsibility for the scenes today – this was not a protest, just angry people, reacting to a false narrative, who have their own motivations for doing so.
‘All today has achieved is the diversion of police and partner resources, operational police officers who will now be away from active duty while they recover from their injuries, and the continued use of public money to clean up the mess they have left behind.
‘Please be assured, our work does not end today – we have officers working hard, reviewing the considerable online imagery and footage of those involved, and they should expect us to be at their doors very soon.
‘I want to take this opportunity to thank our officers and staff who have worked incredibly hard today, and the officers from West Yorkshire Police, British Transport Police, Durham Constabulary, North Yorkshire Police and Leicestershire Police who have supported us, alongside South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for their continued support.’
Meanwhile, in a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and vowed those involved in unrest would ‘face the full force of the law’.
Speaking from Downing Street, Sir Keir suggested that rioters taking to the streets, and those ‘whipping up this action online and then running away themselves,’ would face consequences.
The Home Office announced mosques would be offered greater protection under a new ‘rapid response process’ designed to quickly tackle the threat of further attacks on places of worship.
‘People in this country have a right to be safe, and yet we’ve seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques,’ the Prime Minister said on Sunday.
The people tried negotiating with politicians and have done so for an extremely long time, but our politicians refused to listen, and they did the very opposite of what the British people asked of them, so I’m assuming this is what the response now is – the British people fighting back.
Additionally, people who have worked their entire lives and are now dependent on the State Pension are finding that their income is barely above the threshold. They are quickly realising that it would have been better not to work and take what they could from the government.
Sadly, the UK has been at a tipping point for an extremely long time now, and it has taken the very recent events that have lanced that boil, and I believe that we are in for a summer of great heat, and people need to stay safe.
Politicians have a lot to account for in this two-tiered nation where citizens are at the bottom of the hierarchy.
We pay for policing and don’t get it. Mind you, we pay for hotels, but we can’t stay in many because they are all full of migrants, and housing, don’t even get me started on that one.
When you next vote in the UK, vote with your beliefs, and how you would want the UK to be like. If the politicians don’t tick all those boxes, then don’t vote at all. And as for the newspapers, it’s all false propaganda, along with social media that preys on you with all their algorithms.
Stay strong, folks, because it’s not wrong to say that we have had enough!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 