Protest outside Basingstoke hotel housing asylum seekers

The protest, organised by Stand Up Basingstoke, was held on Saturday, September 20, outside the Crowne Plaza hotel, Black Dam.

The IHG-owned hotel on Old Common Road has been closed to the public since 2021, when it began hosting asylum seekers and installed 24/7 security. Asylum seekers are people fleeing persecution who are applying for protection in another country, a process recognised as a fundamental human right under international law.

More than 50 people attended the protest, which lasted until 5pm.

Protest outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel(Image: Sean Dillow)

One protestor, Harry Galloway, who is of British and Indian heritage and lives in Basingstoke, said: "I used to live in Germany and I know the rules, you go to another country and you abide by their rules. I embraced their culture.

"I'm standing up for a lot of the white people, mainly because they are getting labelled racist. They are not racist. I've never been so united with white people in my life.

"I'm English myself, but my mum's side is Indian, and when they came here, they followed the rules; they migrated properly with legal visas. This isn't about racism; this is about doing what's right.

"We are not saying stop immigration full-stop, we need immigrants - legal immigrants - who come and contribute to society in the right way."

Chants including "Not far right, but not far wrong", "Stop the boats", and "Keir Starmer's a w*****" were sung by protestors throughout the afternoon.

Protest outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel(Image: Sean Dillow)

Kieran Heffernan, who is of Irish heritage and has spent time living homeless, was also protesting at the hotel. He believes that it is unfair that opportunities are afforded to migrants who arrive illegally, such as free hotel accommodation, but not to native citizens of the UK.

He said: "We need to stand together now. There are people getting looked after better in there than people who have been here all their lives, paid into a system, who get their backs turned on them in their time of need.

"I'm a believer in common sense. I'm a believer that if you came here illegally, you should be sent back."

When asked about criticism from media outlets and organisations such as Hope Not Hate, who label protests such as this one as 'far right', Kieran said: "We're not far right, but we're not far wrong.

"The labels aren't working. When you are trying to label something racist that isn't racist, that's the boy who cried wolf. So when actual racism happens, that's taken away from that. People are sick of the labels; they are sick of not being listened to."

Harry Galloway, 24(Image: Sean Dillow)

Also in attendance was Leon O'Leary, one of the organisers of the protest.

He said: "We are protesting today because we are fed up for the British people, the likes of the elderly, the likes of the soldiers, who are classed as second-class citizens.

"I know people think we are just shouting for the sake of it, but we are really not. I care about this country, I care about Basingstoke, I was born and bred here, it's not fair.

"At the end of the day, it's got nothing to do with colour, it could be white people in there. They are getting treated better than the British people."

Statistics from the Home Office show there were more than 32,000 asylum seekers in hotels across the UK in the first part of this year and another 66,000 were in "dispersal" accommodation, which includes HMOs.

There has been pressure on the government to expedite its plans to close asylum hotels, such as the Crowne Plaza; however, this has prompted concerns that this pressure will spill over into communities as they will use rental homes instead.

One plan currently being considered by the government is to expand the use of military sites. Two former military sites - MDP Wethersfield, a former RAF base in Essex, and Napier Barracks, a former military base in Kent - are already being used to house asylum seekers; however, the news that more may be converted, such as the historic Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, has also attracted opposition.