Asylum hotel protests: ”They’re angry with the wrong people’
“It was, quite literally, you deserve to be raped, you N-word bitch,” Ella Mitchell tells me, standing in her kitchen, “and I can’t wrap my head around it.”
Warning: This article includes content that some readers may find distressing
Ella, 25, an administrative assistant in Leeds, is recounting her recent experience at an asylum hotel protest.
The abuse she says she’s had from protesters, calling for the hotel to shut, is shocking.
“Threats of sexual violence, rape threats, racial slurs,” she says, shaking her head.
“I think I will always find it a little bit galling to hear people say that they’re doing this to keep people on their streets safe.”
Ella Mitchell, a counter-protester at the hotel housing asylum seekers in Leeds
For several weeks now, Ella’s helped organise counter-protests outside the Britannia Hotel in Leeds.
The hotel houses 200 male asylum seekers and protests started in early August, organised under the slogan “Protect Our Kids”.
“We live in a time of immense misogyny and violence against women,” Ella says, but “the only incidences of sexual violence against women that they care about are ones that they can use to further their own agenda, to stir up more hatred around asylum seekers.”
I put it to Ella that there are some people at the protests who wouldn’t call themselves racists or far-right, as some of the counter-protesters claim them to be, but are local residents who feel ignored by the government and angry at small boat arrivals.
“I do understand,” Ella says, “that not every single person there is a seasoned far-right organiser, and I wouldn’t want to claim as such.
“However, if you are stood next to someone who is Sieg Heil-ing [the Hitler salute], for example, or next to someone who is yelling racist abuse, week in, week out, then I think it does reflect on you.
‘They’re angry with the wrong people’
Sally Kincaid speaks during the counter-protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Leeds
Protests and counter-protests outside asylum hotels have been going on all summer, sparked initially by those that began outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.
For weeks, we’ve been speaking to people on both sides and found communities starkly divided.
Read more:
Asylum seekers come face-to-face with migrant hotel critics
Protesters on why they oppose asylum hotels
The key numbers driving the immigration debate
“We shouldn’t have to do this, should we?” a counter-protester tells me.
It’s Friday night and we’ve come down to see the Leeds protest for ourselves.
The numbers aren’t huge – a few dozen on both sides, flanked by police – but the rhetoric is aggressive and the atmosphere febrile. Insults are lobbed by people on both sides.
“We shouldn’t have that hatred on this side of road,” Sally Kincaid says, “against people who live on this side of the road.”
Sally, a retired teacher and seasoned protester, has worked with refugee communities for decades.
Anti-migrant protesters outside the Britannia Hotel housing asylum seekers in Leeds
“I can understand people being angry, but they are angry at the wrong people.
“Refugees are not to blame for the fact that there’s bad housing or overcrowded schools.
“And people keep being told that they’re getting all these things – they’re not! They are just waiting and waiting for the Home Office to make a decision.”
Sally then tells us about Hossein, a young refugee from Iran who she fostered from the age of 15.
“He’s lovely,” Sally says, “and everyone that’s ever met him loves him to bits.
“Now, this lot would say he is a bad person.”
I tell Sally that, from our previous conversations with protesters, we know there are a lot of concerns about safety and rates of crime associated with migrants.
“It’s a myth, it’s a myth,” she says, pointing at protesters on the other side, “and it’s being stirred up to make the situation more polarised than it already is.”
‘There’s a lot of racism around and kids are scared’
Sally Kincaid and Steve Johnston with foster son Hossein
Hossein travelled to the UK as a young refugee from Iran before being fostered
A few days later, we go to Sally’s house.
We’d hoped to meet her foster son Hossein, who lived with Sally and her partner, Steve Johnston, for five years after he first arrived in the UK in the back of a freezer van.
Sally and Steve saw Hossein through college, driving tests and, after nearly a decade of waiting, getting British citizenship.
Hossein after passing his driving test
But Hossein isn’t there, and when I ask Sally why, she looks really sad.
“There’s a lot of racism around and kids are scared,” she explains. “That’s the tragedy of it.”
She describes her foster son as someone who “was very, very open on camera a few years ago” but says he is “now worried”.
“The amount of hatred on social media is awful towards refugees, even though he now has status.”
I ask Sally if she finds that painful to admit.
Hossein with foster parents Sally Kincaid and Steve Johnston
“Yes,” she says, “we sat and watched the TV the other night when [Nigel] Farage was talking about deporting Afghan women, and I just thought what’s going on?
“Why have we got ourselves into this situation where people who desperately want to contribute to society are scared to meet people like you.”
The Britannia Hotel houses asylum seekers
‘I don’t think wearing a dog collar exempts you from abuse’
It’s Friday night and, once again, we’re back outside the Britannia hotel.
Protesters and counter-protesters take their positions on either side of the road, and the chanting and name-calling – amplified on loud hailers and speakers – start being flung across the dual carriageway from both sides.
As we walk along the bank of counter-protesters, I see a man, wearing a dog collar and crucifix and quite clearly a member of the clergy, carrying a tray of homemade cakes.
He offers me one and I ask if they are for both sides of the protest.
Cakes being handed out to protesters and counter-protesters by the Bishop of Kirkstall
“Yes we’ve offered them to both sides, and a sense of peace, in the midst of rising tension.”
I ask him what he means by “rising tension”.
“Well, I was last here three weeks ago, and I think the verbal abuse I got today,” he says, gesturing to the protest side, “is more than I had three weeks ago.”
“So to that extent, it does feel like the tension has raised slightly higher,” he adds.
Arun Arora, the Bishop of Kirkstall
The man, as it turns out, is Arun Arora, the Bishop of Kirkstall, the most senior member of the Church of England in West Yorkshire.
I ask him if he finds it shocking that someone who, in his words, has come in peace, should be the target of verbal abuse at these protests.
“I don’t think wearing a dog collar exempts you from abuse,” the bishop says.
“I think part of it is if you stand alongside those who are being dehumanised, those who are being degraded, those who are regarded the least, then you can expect to share in some of the same treatment that they get.”
‘Being polite about it doesn’t win’
I scan the crowd and see Ella, escorting groups of counter-protesters from a nearby car park to the meeting point.
She tells me no one walks here alone in case things get violent.
I also see Steve, Sally’s partner.
Steve Johnston has been involved in the protest movement for years
Like Sally, he’s been involved in the protest movement for years and I ask him about the language we hear being used by the counter-protesters, like chants of “Nazi scum” and “fascist scum, off our streets”.
Does he think it risks making a tense situation even more polarised?
A sign held up by counter-protesters
“There are people over there,” he says, gesturing to the protesters on the other side, “who are clearly members of fascist organisations.”
He concedes, when I challenge him, that there will be some who won’t be, but says “by doing these sort of chants, we hope those people will go away and think ‘well why are they calling us Nazis?’
“People have [previously] stopped the rise of fascism by calling it out for what it is.
“Ignoring it or being polite about it doesn’t win.”
England have been crowned Women’s Rugby World Cup champions for the third time after crushing Canada 33-13.
Two tries by Alex Matthews, plus one each from Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne and Abbie Ward sealed it for the Red Roses.
England, ranked as the world number one going into the match, were ahead by 13 points by the end of the first half – as they played in front of a record-breaking home crowd of 81,885 at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, west London.
(L-R) Megan Jones, Ellie Kildunne and Helena Rowland celebrate at the final whistle after the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Pic: PA
England’s Zoe Aldcroft lifts the trophy as she celebrates with teammates after winning the Womens Rugby World Cup final. Pic: Reuters
England’s Alex Matthews celebrates scoring a try in the Womens Rugby World Cup final. Pic: Reuters
Canada mounted a spirited effort in the second half, but a decent spell of pressure was cut off when Matthews scored her second try of the afternoon.
A conversion took the Red Roses to 33 points, giving them a comfortable 20 point lead over the Maple Leafs.
England’s Ellie Kildunne runs in to score a try. Pic: PA
England’s Tatyana Heard is tackled by Canada’s Alysha Corrigan. Pic: PA
England’s Amy Cokayne scores a try during the Women’s Rugby World Cup final. Pic: PA
The win marks the first time England won the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 11 years, after losing finals in 2017 and 2022.
Among the first to congratulate the Red Roses were the Prince and Princess of Wales, who also praised Canada and said: “You had an outstanding tournament. Both teams should be so proud!”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also praised the team and said: “You have shown the very best of England and inspired a generation.”
After watching the game with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, London’s mayor Sir Sadiq Khan posted a photo of the pair while congratulating England.
“Huge congratulations to (the Red Roses) on their fantastic victory,” he said, “another proud moment for women’s rugby.”
‘Pinch me moment’
Speaking to the BBC after being named player of the match, England’s 23-year-old flanker Sadia Kabeya said: “It’s a pinch me moment. It’s been years and years in the making, I am so happy we could pull it off.
“All props to Canada they are a great side and they put up a great fight here today.”
Ward also told the broadcaster: “Honestly as soon as the whistle went I just burst into tears. It’s truly been such a special day. A sold-out crowd at Twickenham. It was electric, in front of friends, family, it’s amazing.
“The last final loss, that was then. This is a new team, this is a new chapter of women’s rugby.”
Read more from Sky News:
Prince of Wales says 2024 was ‘hardest year’ of his life
Unite threatens to break link with Labour
Nuno Espirito Santo made new West Ham head coach
Headed into the final, the Red Roses were on a 32-game winning streak and won their seventh straight Six Nations title back in April.
England also won every one of their matches in the World Cup group stages, then secured victories over Scotland and France in the quarter and semi-finals, respectively.
It also marked the second-ever Rugby World Cup final for Canada, ranked second in the world behind England.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was spotted in the stands. Pic: PA
Canada’s Asia Hogan-Rochester scores her team’s first try of the match. Pic: Reuters
But despite their world ranking, Canada’s women’s team had to partly fund their way to the tournament.
A crowdfunding page under the name Mission: Win Rugby World Cup 2025 raised nearly $1m (£534,000) to help cover the costs of sending the team to England.
How often do migrants successfully fight their removal from Britain on the basis of their human rights?
The clamour from the right for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights has been growing – even some high-profile Labour figures say it needs reform.
So, I’ve come to an immigration appeal court – unannounced – to find out how it is used by migrants and their lawyers here.
Decisions delayed, outcomes unpublished
I get to the fourth floor of a large court building in Birmingham.
The first case I’m ushered into to see is a 38-year-old Nigerian man. He came on a student visa – but that ran out.
Just before he did, he put in a claim to stay on the basis of his relationship with a woman, who is originally from Barbados but has lived and worked in Britain since 2015.
The judge, who will decide their fate, dials in via video link. He hears the man’s partner has a 17-year-old daughter.
She lives with her biological father, but the couple insist she is so close to the Nigerian man she calls him “Dad”. This is an appeal being made under Article 8 of the ECHR – the right to a family life.
The following day, it’s a different judge – this time he’s here in person.
The man in front of him is appealing against deportation to Kenya. He came to the UK as a baby with his mother and siblings.
As a teenager, he was jailed for almost 10 years for stabbing a man, causing serious injuries.
It emerges that his case is also based on Article 8 of the ECHR. Since leaving prison, he’s fathered a child who has just turned two.
There are arguments made too under Article 3 of the ECHR – which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – due to the man being diagnosed with “generalised anxiety” and depression.
It will be a few weeks before decisions are made on these cases – and the results won’t be published by the court.
I leave, thinking how opaque the process feels.
It’s also easy to see why some politicians are pointing to the ECHR – a treaty signed after the Second World War to protect the rights of everyone in the Council of Europe – as a barrier to removing more migrants.
Between April 2008 and June 2021, 21,521 foreign nationals were due to be deported because of crimes they’d committed
Is the ECHR really a barrier to deportation?
“I think there’s a strong kind of political dynamic there which has led to, in some ways, you might say, a kind of scapegoating of the European Convention,” says Alice Donald, Professor of Human Rights law at Middlesex University, London.
She’s not convinced that withdrawal from ECHR would make a big difference to the number of people the UK is able to remove or deport.
“The honest answer is we don’t know, we don’t have enough data to say that,” she says.
“The data that we do have, for example, in relation to the number of human rights appeals against deportation by foreign national offenders, which has been very much in the news this year, suggests that it would really make only a marginal difference.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘What did we do wrong?’ – Asylum seekers on protests
Read more from Sky News:
What is a digital ID card, and will it be mandatory?
Farage on course to be next PM, mega poll projects
Those figures, published by the Home Office, reveal that between April 2008 and June 2021, 21,521 foreign nationals due to be deported because of crimes they’d committed appealed, and 2,392 were successful on human rights grounds only. That’s around 181 on average per year.
We don’t have figures for how many other types of immigrants are allowed to stay on the basis of human rights. Small boat migrants who claim asylum would usually rely on another convention.
“In terms of asylum claims, it is governed by the 1951 Refugee Convention as a different treaty,” Prof Donald explains.
“There is, of course, overlapping protection with the prohibition of torture in the European Convention… so if the Refugee Convention were still in place, then of course people seeking asylum would rely on that.”
She also believes there have been “a number of erroneous stories or exaggerated stories”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Reform would deport legal migrants
Debunking the chicken nugget myth
In February 2025, it was widely reported that an Albanian criminal’s deportation was halted over his son’s dislike of foreign chicken nuggets.
“What actually happened in that case is that it went to the upper tribunal (second-tier immigration appeal court) which ordered that he could be deported. And also specifically said that the evidence to do with chicken nuggets was nowhere near the level required,” Prof Donald says.
What leaving the ECHR would mean
Withdrawal from the ECHR would mean the guarantees it provides would be removed for everyone in the UK, not just migrants.
It not only protects the rights to life, liberty, fair trial and freedom of expression among others, but also prohibits torture, slavery and discrimination.
Pulling out of the treaty could also breach the Belfast Good Friday Agreement – though some say such an outcome is avoidable.
However, in a country where immigration is the top issue of concern for voters, there are some who now think that is a price worth paying.
The King and Queen will meet the new Pope during a state visit to Vatican City next month.
The couple will join Leo XIV, who was elected pope earlier this year after the death of Pope Francis, in late October to celebrate the 2025 jubilee year, Buckingham Palace said.
The Catholic Church typically marks a papal jubilee every 25 years.
Charles and Camilla‘s visit is expected to celebrate the ecumenical work by the Church of England and the Catholic Church, reflecting the Jubilee year’s theme of walking together as “Pilgrims of Hope”.
The King is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a role which dates back to Henry VIII, who named himself Supreme Head of the Church of England after he was excommunicated by Pope Paul III and broke from the Catholic Church in the 16th century to marry Anne Boleyn.
The King and Queen had a meeting with Pope Francis just 12 days before he died.
The King and Queen meeting Pope Francis before his death. Pic: PA
Their historic state visit to the Vatican in early April was cancelled due to the then-pontiff’s poor health, but they managed to visit him privately during their trip to Italy.
The meeting with Francis, in what would be the final weeks of his life, was arranged at the last minute and took place on their 20th wedding anniversary on 9 April, with the pontiff wanting to personally wish them a happy anniversary.
Read more from Sky News:
Elon Musk and Prince Andrew named in latest Epstein files release
Watch moment diplomats walk out as Israeli PM speaks at UN
In an official message released following the news of Francis’s death on 21 April, the King said he and the Queen were “most deeply saddened”.
In May, Charles sent a private message to Pope Leo XIV congratulating him on his election, Buckingham Palace said.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment12 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024