Around 40 to 50 protesters gathered outside the Marriott Hotel in Portsmouth on Tuesday evening, mistakenly believing asylum seekers were being accommodated there, when the venue was in fact hosting the Pakistan under-19 cricket team.
Hampshire County Council Reform UK councillor George Madgwick said on social media that local residents had asked him to attend the hotel before he agreed to meet with the management. The protesters had wrongly mistaken the Pakistan under-19 national cricket team for migrants, he said.
Councillor meets hotel management
Madgwick, the North East Havant councillor, said: "I visited the manager and the hotel explained it was a Pakistani Cricket team staying. The cricket team coach came to speak to me personally and I saw proof (hotel were happy to provide)."
He went on to explain that he then addressed the gathered crowd outside to set the record straight, and they "immediately (the crowd) respectfully accepted that" and dispersed within five minutes.
Protest follows Eastney incident
The protest came just a day after demonstrators had attempted to block migrants from being transported for processing in the Eastney area of the city, where protesters clashed with riot police when migrants landed.
The councillor said in his post: "There were reports that possible migrants were staying in the Marriott hotel. I can confirm that is NOT the case. Please don't attend the hotel."
Council and anti-racism group respond
Madgwick maintained that the Government must understand why such events take place, saying: "If the government don't get a grip on this boat crisis we will see this more and more." He claimed the protesters were not "bad people" but people who feel strongly about their neighbourhood.
However, Stand up to Racism Portsmouth also wrote: "Yesterday (Tuesday 8th) some non-white people were spotted amongst the guests at a Marriott Hotel in Portsmouth. Anywhere else in the world, it would just be a case of business-as-usual. Allowing racists to mobilise like this every time they become suspicious of any group of non-white people in Portsmouth is extremely dangerous. It is racism in action and it has to stop."
