One person has been arrested after more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside a hotel in Essex believe to be housing asylum seekers, police said.
Demonstrators, some of whom appeared to be drinking alcohol, chanted “send them home” and “save our kids” as bottles and smoke flares were thrown towards police vans blocking the entrance to the Bell hotel in Epping on Sunday evening.
Police escorted a counter-protester, an elderly woman, out of the area surrounding the hotel, as a group of masked protesters followed her and shouted abuse.
Officers had said they would “deal robustly” with criminal behaviour as hundreds joined a fresh protest at the hotel where there were violent clashes last week.
An order threatening arrest for anyone who refused to remove face coverings would be in place all Sunday night, Essex police said before the protest began.
Public order vans were stationed outside the hotel in Epping in a change in police tactics after eight officers were assaulted on Thursday and police vehicles were smashed by groups of men.
Police said: “Following a large number of individuals congregating on Epping High Road, we have taken the decision to temporarily close the road.”
A 33-year-old man has been charged by officers, who made a number of arrests and circulated images of suspects.
Keith Silk, of Loughton, was charged with violent disorder and criminal damage. Dean Walters, 65 and from Harlow, had earlier been charged with affray and will appear at court in September.
Far-right activists associated with groups including Britain First were among those in a crowd that gathered outside the Bell hotel on Thursday, where local people including women and children were protesting peacefully.
Clashes with police broke out as groups of men, some of them masked, tried to reach a small anti-racism march that started at Epping station and went through the town before it was hemmed in.
In an apparent response to allegations that the police had taken a “two-tier” approach that favoured the counter-demonstration, Ch Supt Simon Anslow said: “Unfortunately, across social media we are seeing inflammatory comments which suggest we were supporting and enabling certain protesters.
“This is categorically not true. We police without fear or favour, remaining impartial at all times and have legal responsibilities to ensure peaceful protest is facilitated.”
Tensions were high in Epping after the appearance in court on Thursday of an asylum seeker charged with three counts of sexual assault.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, from Ethiopia, who denies the offences, was remanded in custody before a two-day trial next month at Chelmsford magistrates court.
Neil Hudson, the local Conservative MP, has been calling on the Home Office to close the hotel and described the violence in the town on Thursday as “completely unacceptable”.
“Police put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe. People have the right to peacefully protest but these violent scenes are not us, not Epping, not what we stand for,” he said in a post on X.
