Protests in UK against asylum seeker housing continue, counter-protests arise

Protesters took to the streets across the UK on Saturday including in the city of Liverpool to demonstrate against hotels housing asylum-seekers.

A number of protests under the Abolish Asylum System slogan, coined by right-wing political parties, were also set to take place in other cities including in Bristol, Newcastle, and London.

In Liverpool, a counter-protest organised by Stand Up To Racism was also held.

Police could also be seen leading away protesters from the Abolish Asylum System protest and pushing back demonstrators from the counter protest.

The dilemma of how to house asylum-seekers in Britain got more challenging for the government after a landmark court ruling this week motivated opponents to fight hotels used as accommodation.

Politicians on the right capitalized on a temporary injunction that blocked housing asylum-seekers in a hotel in Epping, on the outskirts of London, to encourage other communities to also go to court.

Legal obligation to house asylum-seekers

The issue is at the heart of a heated public debate over how to control unauthorized immigration that has bedevilled countries across the West as an influx of migrants seeking a better life as they flee war-torn countries, poverty, regions wracked by climate change or political persecution.

In the UK, the debate has focused on the arrival of migrants crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats run by smugglers and escalating tensions over housing thousands of asylum-seekers at government expense around the country.

The government is legally obligated to house asylum-seekers. Using hotels to do so had been a marginal issue until 2020, when the number of asylum-seekers increased sharply and the then-Conservative government had to find new ways to house them.

There have been more than 27,000 unauthorized arrivals so far this year, nearly 50% higher than at the same point last year and ahead of the number at this time of year in 2022, when a record 45,755 came ashore.

The number of asylum-seekers housed in hotels stood at just over 32,000 at the end of June, according to Home Office figures released Thursday. That figure was up 8% from about 29,500 a year earlier but far below the peak of more than 56,000 in September 2023.

A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

In May, the National Audit Office said those temporarily living in hotels accounted for 35% of all people in asylum accommodation.