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Demonstration held outside Ipswich migrant hotel

Emma Baugh/BBC Banner in support of migrants in IpswichEmma Baugh/BBC
Supporters of those inside the hotel gathered with banners on Saturday

A group of about 30 people gathered to demonstrate against the Home Office's use of a hotel to house migrants in a Suffolk town.

However, they were outnumbered by about 100 people supporting those inside the Novotel in Ipswich, on Saturday.

They waved banners with the slogan "hate racism" and chanted "refugees welcome here".

Margaret Bulaitis president of Ipswich Trades Union Council said there was "no place for hatred... in Ipswich".

Ipswich Borough Council had previously said housing migrants in the hotel would put an "unsustainable" strain on local services.

People at a demonstration in Ipswich
About 100 people gathered to show "solidarity" with those housed inside the Ipswich hotel
Geograph/N Chadwick Novotel Hotel, IpswichGeograph/N Chadwick
Asylum seekers are being held in Ipswich's Novotel

Joining those supporting the migrants in the hotel, Ms Bulaitis said: "We're here primarily to stand in solidarity with the refugees in the [hotel], to say there's no place for hatred and division in Ipswich."

"I've lived in this town for 20 years and I'm confident that... the average person in this town is horrified at attempts to divide us."

Emma Baugh/BBC Demonstrators in IpswichEmma Baugh/BBC
Demonstrators against the hotel being used gathered on the street opposite the others
Emma Baugh/BBC Margaret BulaitisEmma Baugh/BBC
Margaret Bulaitis said she believed many people in Ipswich supported the people in the hotel

Phanuel Mutumburi, from the Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality, said: "It is worrying because we have seen in other places where there's been violence and acts of vandalism, but this is so important, and so everyone is brave and has come out here to support the people who are suffering."

Police said the event passed off peacefully and no arrests were made.

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