\n<\/p>\n
Thousands of people have marched through an East Sussex market town to protest against UK government plans to house asylum seekers on a former military site.<\/p>\n
Crowds of men, women and children walked to Crowborough from the base, where the Home Office plans to house up to 500 male asylum seekers as part of plans to end the use of hotels for the same purpose.<\/p>\n
While those taking part included many people from the town and surrounding area, far-right activists and groups from other parts of England also sought to make their presence felt, in the latest and largest demonstration of its kind in the area.<\/p>\n
The plans have attracted strong opposition in the town after the first asylum seekers were moved in last week, in what is a test case for emerging government policy.<\/p>\n
Crowborough Shield, which describes itself as a non-political, voluntary residents\u2019 group, is spearheading a legal case against the plans and took part in the march. It has accused the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, of \u201cthreatening\u201d the town and other sites around the country with asylum housing plans.<\/p>\n
Amid a sea of union jacks and Saint George\u2019s flags, those who had journeyed in for the march from another part of Sussex included Lynn Hall, who described herself as an \u201cordinary concerned mother of two\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel really emotional about this because this was a site that was used by young cadets and now it is they who have been displaced,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cPeople have real concerns here about this and it\u2019s about the unaccompanied young men who will be living here. I\u2019m not hardline, I\u2019m not political and I don\u2019t want to be against anybody but I feel strongly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like others in the crowd, Hall was carrying a flag emblazoned with the logo of Advance UK, a hard-right political party set up by the former MEP Ben Habib after splitting from Reform UK and which has drawn support from the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Tommy Robinson. Hall was surprised to be told this, adding that she was unaware of the group\u2019s background.<\/p>\n
<\/span>While many local people joined the march, far-right activists and groups from other parts of England were also in attendance.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Hasson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Earlier, those who took turns to stand behind a \u201cCrowborough says no\u201d banner during the march on Sunday morning was Callum Barker, a former activist with the far-right Homeland party, who was an organiser of protests outside the Bell Hotel in Essex during the summer.<\/p>\n Also present were activists from the Operation Raise the Colours movement, including some who were banned last week by French authorities over plans to engage in activities on the French coast.<\/p>\n The march snaked its way in from the former military base, past the home of Helen and John Tate, a lawyer, former senior civil servant in the Home Office and deputy parliamentary ombudsman. \u201cAs far as the Home Office is concerned we have no say in the matter. The local MP [Nusrat Ghani] has tried to do her best by organising meetings, but it has gone ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But for a bad knee, his wife said, she would have joined the march. \u201cI think it\u2019s a good thing as it really does show the extent of local opposition,\u201d she said, although both she and her husband were concerned that the presence of far-right activists could \u201caggravate\u201d the situation.<\/p>\n About 27 men have been housed at the camp so far. Crowborough is one of two military sites the government announced last year it would use to house asylum seekers, along with Cameron Barracks in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.<\/p>\n Those taking part in the march followed behind a banner, preceded by a car blaring techno, bearing a crucifix and emblazoned with rightwing slogans as well as images of three young girls murdered in Southport. The crowd took part in chants of \u201cKeir Starmer is a wanker\u201d and in some cases \u201cKeir Starmer is a traitor\u201d.<\/p>\n No arrests had yet taken place on Sunday, according to Sussex police. Ch Supt James Collis said: \u201cWe know that the use of the Crowborough training camp for asylum accommodation has caused concern within the community. Our police presence has been increased in Crowborough and the surrounding area to provide a clear point of contact for the public for engagement and reassurance.\u201d<\/p>\n Three people were arrested on Saturday after disorder outside Crowborough camp. A 36-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman from Crowborough and a 54-year-old man from Newhaven were detained on suspicion of an offence under the Public Order Act.<\/p>\n On a visit to Crowborough on Thursday, the home secretary vowed to defend any legal challenge \u201cvigorously\u201d amid news that the local authority, Wealden district council, was also considering action. Mahmood told broadcasters: \u201cI understand the strength of feeling but I do also believe that getting out of asylum hotels is absolutely crucial for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thousands of people have marched through an East Sussex market town to protest against UK government plans to house asylum seekers on a former military site. Crowds of men, women and children walked to Crowborough from the base, where the Home Office plans to house up to 500 male asylum seekers as part of plans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[2917,2919,22455,2081,11244,744,1436,1152],"class_list":{"0":"post-42697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-asylum","9":"tag-camp","10":"tag-crowborough","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-march","13":"tag-military","14":"tag-plan","15":"tag-thousands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}