Far-Right Agitators Are Gearing up for Another Summer of Hate

Outside the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, east London, on Wednesday night, anti-migrant protesters held a St George’s flag emblazoned with the words; “The English began to hate; Deport all illegals; Bring back hanging; Justice for our girl’s [sic.]; No Surrender.” Others held signs saying “stop calling us far-right”. It seemed like a neat summary of the way increasingly violent rhetoric is becoming normalised.

A few dozen protesters had gathered, after the hotel came under the spotlight after fake news spread online that asylum seekers who had been kept at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex were to be moved there.

On Tuesday, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson posted a video on X from outside the Canary Wharf hotel, saying he was “absolutely furious” that it was being prepared as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.

This was the second protest in Canary Wharf this week. It follows protests over the last few days at migrant hotels in Epping in Essex, and Diss in Norfolk. A year on from 2024’s racist riots, rightwing politicians and media are trying to inflame community tensions once again. Further protests are expected in Epping this weekend, while a protest has been organised for 2 August at the Barbican Thistle hotel in Shoreditch, east London.

The issue of migrant hotels – a legacy of Tory mismanagement of the asylum system – continues to be a lightning rod for controversy. Since the pandemic, hotels have increasingly been used to house asylum seekers. While the contractors providing the accommodation make a killing, those stuck in limbo there for months at a time have to endure overcrowded accommodation, appalling food and are expected to survive on £8.86 per week.

This hasn’t stopped rightwing politicians conjuring images of migrants enjoying an extended Jet2holiday at the taxpayer’ expense. “This hotel here, by the way, it must cost a couple of hundred quid a night to stay in,” fumed Anderson. “Most normal people in this country would not even be able to afford to come and stay here for a weekend.”

In Epping, protests broke out after a 38-year-old asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was charged with sexual assault after an incident where he is alleged to have attempted to kiss a 14-year-old girl. He denied three sexual offences, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last week. 16 people have been arrested after the protests turned violent.

Alan Jones, a spokesperson for anti-fascist research group Red Flare told Novara Media that focussing on alleged sex crimes allows the far-right to have “an apolitical rallying point” as they can create a “save our kids from the predators narrative” which allows far-right activists to “tap into local feeling”.

Jones pointed to the success of an explicitly feminist antifascist mobilisation in 2018 against the far-right Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA) – which included a massive banner saying “No Rape. No Racism” – as a way to combat this kind of messaging. He added, however, that the way that 2025’s “networked” far-right organise at extremely short notice could make this difficult to do.

When there is an inciting incident, the far-right is ready to strike. Epping Forest has been a “hotbed” of far-right activity for years, according to Hope Not Hate, which points out that the BNP won council seats there in the 2000s. The Bell Hotel itself has long been a magnet for far-right campaigners.

Far-right activists were present at the disturbances in Epping, including Ukip leader Nick Tenconi, members of the Homeland Party, Britain First and former Patriotic Alternative members, according to Hope Not Hate.

White Vanguard – a neo-Nazi direction action group – handed out leaflets in Epping last weekend saying “Volk First: Preserve the White Race”. It’s unclear how appealing this kind of language will be to even the more rightwing Volk of Essex.

The rightwing press has been determined to legitimise the protests and downplay any far-right involvement, focussing instead on the presence of ordinary concerned locals.

At the same time, rightwing media is becoming increasingly febrile and far-right talking points are more normalised. On Wednesday, high-profile Telegraph columnist Alison Pearson posted on X, “Anyone else hoping for a military coup?” later clarifying that it was “sort of a joke but people seem quite keen on a military coup!”

There is hardly a news story that rightwing doomsayers won’t spin to fit their declinist narrative. This month it was revealed that the UK launched a resettlement scheme for Afghans that were in danger from the Taliban after someone working for UK special sources accidentally leaked their data. The scandal is that British incompetence endangered them in the first place. Across the rightwing press, it has been presented merely as a plot to import more immigrants – “A secret operation smuggling migrants TO Britain” as the Daily Mail put it.

With further protests expected this weekend, we may find out just how much traction their narrative has.