- Five people arrested after three nights of anti-migrant protests in Thetford; police escorted asylum seekers to safety.
- Protests targeted buildings protesters believed housed asylum seekers after proposals to use a nearby disused military site.
- Police said one officer hit by rock, another bitten, third spat at; videos show crowds shouting "refugees not welcome".
- Government struggling to find housing for thousands of asylum seekers; reducing hotel use has fueled anger and boosted far right support.
UK police have arrested five people and escorted asylum seekers to safety in a town hit by three consecutive nights of anti-migrant protests, the regional force said Friday.
The protests, which took place from Tuesday to Thursday in the town of Thetford in eastern England, targeted buildings the protesters “believed were housing asylum seekers”, regional police chief Paul Sanford told BBC Radio 4.
“On a couple of occasions, that required us to escort the residents of those properties away for their safety,” said Sanford, chief constable of Norfolk police, adding some of the residents were asylum seekers.
The protests followed proposals to use a nearby disused military site to house asylum seekers.
The government has been struggling to find appropriate sites to house thousands of asylum seekers while it processes their applications.
The interior ministry has sought to reduce the use of hotels, which has proved to be a flashpoint for protests, as anger over immigration more generally has fueled support for the far right.
The government is legally bound to ensure access to accommodation and health care for asylum seekers.
According to The Guardian newspaper, more than 100 people protested on Tuesday and Wednesday after a list of properties allegedly linked to asylum seeker housing circulated online.
Three people were arrested then on suspicion of various public order offences, with police saying one officer was hit by a rock, another was bitten and a third was spat at.
Two more men were arrested on Thursday night, which police said was calmer.
Videos on social media of residents being escorted by police from targeted homes show dozens of protesters shouting “get out” and “refugees not welcome”.
If police had not intervened, Sanford said it was “highly likely that the protesters would have got into the property… and really threatened the safety of the occupants”.
Anti-migrant riots also hit the Northern Irish capital Belfast in June, sparked by a stabbing for which a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged.
Rioters targeted ethnic minorities and housing believed to be linked to migrant accommodation after lists of addresses circulated online.
Earlier this year, hundreds protested against plans to house asylum seekers at another former military barracks in southern England.
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