LONDON (Reuters) -British police said they arrested five people on Saturday after masked men tried to force their way into a hotel used by asylum-seekers, a day after the government won a court ruling on the use of another hotel to house migrants.
Two groups of anti-asylum protesters marched to the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Heathrow Airport before some demonstrators tried to break in, London’s Metropolitan Police force said.
Two police officers suffered minor injuries, it said.
“We understand strength of feeling on these issues, but where peaceful protest crosses the line into criminality, including injuries to our officers, we will take immediate action,” Commander Adam Slonecki said in a statement.
In a separate incident, three men were arrested late on Friday outside another hotel used to house asylum-seekers in Epping in east London.
The government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday won a court ruling that overturned a previous court decision that asylum-seekers would have to be evicted from the hotel in Epping where a resident was charged with sexual assault.
Concern about immigration has risen to the top of the political agenda in Britain after an increase in migrants using small boats to reach the country.
More than 32,000 migrants were being housed in around 200 hotels across the country at the end of June, according to government figures.
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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