Skegness hotels boarded up ahead of anti-asylum protest

Hotels in Skegness are being boarded up ahead of a planned protest against their use to house asylum seekers.

Lincolnshire Police said they had been in contact with the organisers of the event on Saturday.

Supt Pat Coates said officers would be on duty and the force had to balance the right to peaceful protest "against the rights of the community to prevent crime and disorder."

A similar protest outside a hotel in Merseyside lead to clashes and arrests.

The march comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in an interview with GB News that housing asylum seekers in hotels is causing "understandable tensions".

She said violence was "never acceptable" but claimed "we are all frustrated with the situation" and added that she did not believe it was "racist or bigoted" to acknowledge the problems caused to communities.

The latest Home Office figures show 37,000 asylum seekers and Afghan refugees are living in UK hotels at a cost of £4.7m per day.

Supt Coates said police recognised it was a "contentious issue and there are genuine concerns amongst the community".

"Our intention is just to have a safe, peaceful, lawful protest," he said.

"Facilitate it whilst minimising the disruption to the local community."

The town's Conservative MP Matt Warman urged people in the town not to "join hands" with far-right groups.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday he said: "While there are legitimate concerns, I hope the Minister will agree that the shameless use of people's concerns by far-right groups is to be deplored and stands in the way of our having a sensible conversation that will in the long-term allow us to move beyond the use of these hotels."

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