Estimates of the population of undocumented migrants living in the UK range from 120,000 to 1.3 million, with Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf recently putting the figure at 1.2 million.
Regardless, that number doesn’t come close to those living in the UK legally: the 2021-22 census (pdf) put the entire foreign-born population of the UK at 10.7 million. But lies travel fast on social media – especially if they chime with existing worries or prejudice.
The news last year that three girls attending a dance class in Southport were stabbed to death sent out shockwaves. As the local community gathered to mourn, a piece of disinformation – that the attacker had come to the UK on a small boat – quickly spread on social media. That sparked protests, which were very quickly exploited by far-right activists. The protests exploded, with anti-migrant rioters attacking mosques, setting fire to asylum hotels, and assaulting black and minority ethnic people.
It’s been a year since, but the anger has not dissipated. Instead, it is slowly hardening into a movement. Anti-immigration protests have taken place across the country and while most have remained peaceful, some have not. The BBC reported that 15 people across the country have been arrested in recent days while protesting outside hotels used to house asylum seekers.
“We’re in what Joe Mulhall of Hope Not Hate calls the ‘post-organisational era’ of the far right,” says Ben. “It’s not about formal parties and memberships. It’s about individuals loosely linked via social media, people who might never meet in person but have significant influence, especially on platforms like X. That all feeds into gatherings and protests, which then spill over into violence, as we saw after Southport.”
He added that protests outside asylum hotels have always happened. The Bell Hotel in Epping, which has seen recent large scale protests, has actually been targeted since 2021. But these protests, once considered fringe events, are becoming a fixture.
“If you place Reform UK as a hard-right populist party, the groups we’re seeing at the protest sit further to the right,” Ben told me. “For a while, Patriotic Alternative was the main far-right group, but it’s in decline now, as a result of infighting. A newer group, Homeland Party, was set up by former far-right members and has drawn people away from Patriotic Alternative.”
But he warned that we have to be careful when discussing who is involved. “They are clearly organised far-right activists who are attempting to exploit local grievances and are using misinformation to whip up feelings, but in some cases, such as Epping, the protests have included local people who are unaffiliated with organised far-right groups. There is a grey area which is difficult to determine in some cases.”
He added that the big shadow over all of this is Tommy Robinson. “He’s the epitome of that post-organisational far right. He’s an influencer and clearly an activist, and he’s got a universe of people around him, who in many cases include football hooligans.”
Robinson tried to amplify protests in Islington and Canary Wharf, targeting hotels thought to house asylum seekers, Ben explained. There are also other figures forming a constellation of newer far-right influencers who have attached themselves to this.
Are all the protesters far-right agitators?
While notable far-right figures have been spotted speaking at the protests, Ben has spoken to many who wouldn’t align themselves with those groups, but are still frustrated with the country’s asylum policies.
“It’s really important to not discount the fact that people in these communities have agency of their own to go and protest and they can feel very strongly about things. They have views on the asylum system, they have views on events in the news,” Ben said.
“There is a debate to be had, and many media organisations will be having it, about how these protests should be described. I spoke to a local woman in Essex who said ‘we’re turning up here because a teenager was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man who was in this hostel. We want to turn up and show we’re not happy with this’. Are they far right purely for taking part in that protest? They would say of course not. But should they turn away from a protest when it becomes clear that it is being hijacked by neo-Nazis and far-right groups? Some would say, yes, they should.”
Will this weekend be a flashpoint?
There is widespread reporting of a “no asylum day of action” today, but Ben believes it is not clear whether it’s a real national action or a meme that has taken on a life of its own. He pointed to an incident last year where someone published a list of immigration advice centres across the country, but the protests didn’t materialise.
There is some evidence to show that momentum around some of these protests is beginning to slow down.
“It feels like the heat has come out of Epping a little bit. At the last protest, anti-racism activists and trade unionists outnumbered the protest against that hotel. And that was a place far-right activists had very clearly wanted to turn it into pilgrimage every weekend. But now it seems that perhaps the focus has shifted. It might be because lots of local people were turned off by the violence which erupted on the sidelines of those protests. But the problem is, we now have lots of others elsewhere,” Ben said.
There is now widespread attention in Nuneaton because of another alleged sexual assault case there, involving a 12-year-old alleged victim. Reform council leader George Finch made comments that may be in contempt of court and have inflamed tensions, Ben said. Protests are planned at the council HQ. Other hotspots include Cannock and Waterlooville, which recently saw a thousand people protesting, he added.
“In places like London and Essex, anti-racist activists can mobilise very quickly in large numbers and also draw some local support and outnumber the far right. But you also have other places where there are large groups of local people who are unattached with the far right, gathering in large numbers and then you have the far right exploiting them.”
How has the government responded?
There has been a notable difference in the government’s response to this year’s protests outside asylum hotels. “After Southport, Keir Starmer called them ‘far-right riots’. He hasn’t done that this time, even though the far right is heavily involved. Labour seems worried about alienating voters on immigration,” Ben said. He added that many are also critical of Starmer and Yvette Cooper for failing to condemn the racist language heard at some of these protests.
And the possibility of further national riots loom. “There’s potential,” said Ben, “because we’re in August. The weather’s hot and rain is always one of the things that keeps people off the street. You have misinformation, the far right and others colonising local Facebook groups, with Nigel Farage and Reform amplifying many of the messages from the protests.
“And then you have a stretched police force as well” – stretched not only by anti-migrant protests, but by a wave of demonstrations this weekend, with hundreds expected to defy terrorism legislation to rally in support of Palestine Action.
The two protests will paint a stark picture of modern Britain. On one side, police in soft caps are expected to make mass arrests, mostly of elderly people or students, with little anticipation of violence. On the other, riot vans and officers in full gear will line the streets at anti-migrant demonstrations, prepared for the possibility that unrest could erupt once again.
