Protesting outside the Britannia Hotel has not been banned by police despite claims being made on social media. Accounts have suggested that protesters have been told they cannot attend the hotel for a period of 28-days to demonstrate against asylum seekers being housed there.
The reality is that a group of protesters went “well beyond protest to harassment,” say police. The group harassed occupants of the hotel and its staff, prevented people accessing the hotel to make deliveries and even tried to breach the fencing of the hotel to access the building.
This group in particular was ordered to leave the hotel and not to return for 28-days. Other protest groups are free to continue their demonstrations outside the Britannia Hotel, in Canary Wharf.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service posted to X: “Officers police a protest for a considerable time today but a group remained who were harassing occupants of the hotel and staff, trying to prevent people accessing the hotel to make deliveries and making concerted efforts to breach the fencing and access the hotel.
“Their actions went well beyond protest to harassment and we used powers under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to order that specific group to leave and not return for 28 days. If a different group wishes to protest in the vicinity of the hotel they are not banned from doing so, providing they do so lawfully.”
Police have also clarified that they do not hold the power to ban protesting and encourages “those exercising their lawful right to protest to do so responsibly”, while reminding “anyone who crosses the line from lawful protest into criminality” to expect police action.
Nine people were arrested in relation to the protests outside the Britannia Hotel on Monday (August 4). These included a 22-year-old woman, arrested on suspicion of expressing support for Palestine Action and a 33-year-old man, part of the anti-immigration demo, who was arrested for a racially aggravated public order offence.
A further three men, aged 30, 21 and 28 and three women, aged 43, 33 and 21 were arrested on suspicion of breaching the Public Order Act conditions in place. Police also arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of breaching the Public Order Act conditions in place and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
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