Image Credit: HENRY NICHOLLS / Contributor / Getty 
England witnessed a day of protests on Saturday, August 9th, aimed at the national policy of housing asylum applicants close to local communities.
The form of the problem varies, from the Home Office filling entire hotels with migrants to local authorities renting ‘houses in multiple occupation’ (HMOs) from private landlords which they then fill with asylum seekers. This growing population primarily involves undocumented young men, whose alleged crimes fuel local safety concerns.
The most notorious current cases are in Epping, Essex and Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where an Ethiopian and two Afghans respectively are charged with serious sexual offences. While the Nuneaton protest was covered by the press as something of a national flashpoint, there were also protests in the cities of Bristol, Leicester, and Birmingham. At the Liverpool protest, counterdemonstrators now stand accused of assaulting GB News Reporter Sophie Reaper, whereas the Bournemouth anti-migrant hotel protests coincided with the launch of local ‘vigilante’ patrols.
Following the pattern established in Epping, the protests are typically set up by concerned parents—and fronted by mothers—and backed by town councillors from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
In contrast, echoing the various out-of-town counterdemonstrators that show up, the British media focuses on the supposed involvement, even leadership, of the ‘far Right.’ In the absence of Tommy Robinson, the Guardian claimed the Nuneaton protest was organised by “the extremist nationalist group Homeland party,” adding snootily “some protesters could be seen taking turns to sing karaoke on the street outside the Wetherspoon’s pub.”
J D Wetherspoon is a popular, reasonably priced pub chain reviled by the political elite in Britain. The barely coded barbs directed at it in the Guardian are symptomatic of the wider disconnect between the establishment and the British people who, in the face of illegal ‘small boat’ migration, are saying ‘enough is enough.’
