Laying the Groundwork: How years of anti-migrant activism fed into this summer’s race riots

Right Response Team - 08 10 24

For years, HOPE not hate has warned that anti-migrant activism in the UK endangers innocent people. Following this summer’s race riots, we explore how years of far-right activity connects to the carnage of July and August 2024.

It should be unsurprising to learn that some of the towns and cities worst affected by the anti-Muslim, anti-migrant riots this summer are the same locations that have been repeatedly targeted by far-right activists over the past three years. 

From spring 2021 until early 2024, anti-migrant activism in Britain had been on a fairly consistent upward trajectory.

This boom was characterised by three interlinking trends. One was a constant churn of “migrant hunting” content, with unaligned activists like Amanda Smith (AKA Yorkshire Rose), Alan Leggett (AKA Active Patriot) and, later, YouTubers like Joe Gough (AKA Joe Vloggs) arriving at temporary asylum accommodation sites around the country to film and harass both residents and staff for social media engagement.

The second was the surge in anti-migrant demonstrations, often outside asylum hotels, which reached a zenith during the six weeks following the Kirkby riot in February 2023.

The third and most recent is the use of round-the-clock blockades of proposed asylum accommodation sites, most notably the anti-migrant camp in Llanelli and the calamitous copycat outside RAF Scampton last year.

Throughout this period, we repeatedly raised concerns that the targeting of asylum accommodation sites – both online and off – increased the likelihood of serious incidents at those same sites in the future.

Indeed, such worries were realised when, in November 2022, a follower of migrant hunters threw a petrol bomb at a migrant processing centre in Dover. Police have also indicated that an “intact” petrol bomb was found near RAF Scampton last October.

Fascist influencer, Steve Laws, gloats about the targeting of the Southport mosque during the riot, in swiftly deleted tweets from the evening of 30 July 2024.

The recent riots and the preceding years of anti-migrant activism are intrinsically connected. It is perhaps telling that many activists who had previously exploited tensions around the issue celebrated online during the riots.

Alan Leggett (AKA Active Patriot) tries to gain entry to a site of temporary asylum accommodation, in a video made by Amanda Smith (AKA Yorkshire Rose).

As well as hotel visits, protests and blockades, anti-migrant activists have also filmed RNLI rescue boats arriving in Dover, circulated lists of asylum hotels on social media and harassed the refugee and asylum support sector, believing they are uncovering a grand conspiracy behind these arrivals on Britain’s shores. 

Such material has spread widely across far-right networks, and the messaging normalised by sections of the media and mainstream politicians, further emboldening anti-migrant activists.

If the public are told regularly by far-right influencers that they and their towns are “under threat” from those in asylum accommodation, then it is inevitable that some will take matters into their own hands. 

We had a taste of just how destructive this can be in July and August this year, and those responsible must be held to account.

Britain First’s co-leader, Ashlea Simon, lauds the rioters over the first weekend of August 2024 (tweet since deleted)

Mapping the activity:

Rotherham

The attempted arson of the Holiday Inn in Manvers, Rotherham – with people still inside – on 4 August stands out as among the most horrific scenes during a week of sickening violence and disorder.


From September 2021 to July 2024, Rotherham was visited at least 12 times by far-right, anti-migrant activists. One accommodation site, the Ibis Rotherham, was targeted three times in this period by “migrant hunters” Amanda Smith and Alan Leggett. However, the pair made six trips to Holiday Inn Manvers between them, producing videos for their social media channels each time. The anti-Muslim party, Britain First, appeared once at both the Ibis and Holiday Inn sites in 2022, filming residents outside the building before being challenged by staff.

Feb 2023 demo flyer, shared on social media by fascist influencer, Steve Laws

Perhaps most significant, however, was a small but extreme far-right demonstration outside the Manvers Holiday Inn on 18 February 2023. Despite having only been attended by roughly 60 people, we have now identified seven men convicted for this year’s race riots who were present at the demonstration 18 months earlier.


The details for the February 2023 demonstration were shared by several activists of fascist group, Patriotic Alternative (PA), as well as by Britain First and Steve Laws, all escalating tensions in the process. In an attempt to instigate more anti-migrant activity, Laws wrote on Telegram: “We need as many of these protests happening simultaneously all over the country”.

Activists from Patriotic Alternative at the Manvers Holiday Inn, Rotherham, on 18 February 2023. (Photo: HOPE not hate)

Activists from PA were present at the demonstration, including Alek Yerbury, who would go on to found the National Rebirth Party. Ex-members of Britain First were also in attendance, including William Riley (who is also the former leader of the Hull branch of the English Defence League (EDL)) and Warren Gilchrest who has multiple previous convictions for sexual offences against children under the age of 13, as well as prominent migrant hunters.

In a since-deleted tweet, Britain First’s Ashlea Simon appears to celebrate the attempted arson on the Manvers Holiday Inn.

Tellingly, as flames licked the sides of the Manvers Holiday Inn nearly 18 months later, Britain First’s co-leader, Ashlea Simon, tweeted: ‘I don’t think Rotherham residents came to play’.

Hull

On 3 August, the rioting in Hull reached terrifying levels with many scenes of genuinely shocking brutality. Among them was a savage group attack on three Romanian men in a car that resembled an attempted lynching, with some in the crowd shouting “kill them”.

The level of far-right, anti-migrant activism in Hull since spring 2021 is virtually unmatched across the country. Throughout that period, we have tracked a combined 24 visits to a number of the city’s asylum hotels by Smith, Leggett and Britain First. 10 of these targeted The Royal Hotel in the city centre. On 3 August 2024, this hotel would become the site of a pitched battle between rioters and police following a demonstration in Victoria Square, about seven minutes walk away.

Additionally, we have identified at least six anti-migrant demonstrations during this period, organised by PA, Alek Yerbury (formerly of PA) and Hull Patriotic Protesters, led by John Gilling, two of which took place outside The Royal Hotel.

John Gilling (left), next to Scott Pitts (centre, holding microphone) as he gives incendiary speech outside The Royal Hotel, Hull, 22 June 2024.

Whilst these demonstrations have varied in size and extremeness, their anti-migrant core remains the same. This has been evident in both the banners and propaganda used before and during the demonstrations, as well as in speeches given at the time. For example, at the demonstration on 24 November 2021, Sam Melia of PA screamed into a megaphone about the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, whilst on 22 June 2024 former EDL activist Scott Pitts spoke viciously about “vermin coming over on boats” and how “every politician allowing this to happen is committing treason”.

Left: John Honey at the Hull riot on 3 August. Right: Honey alongside fascist organiser Alek Yerbury, 18 March 2023 (Picture: HOPE not hate)

Unsurprisingly, several attendees of these protests have since been convicted for rioting in Hull. This includes the PA-supporter John Honey, who was prominently involved in the group attack mentioned above. As we have previously written, Honey has attended PA protests in the town and was photographed by HOPE not hate at the front of a small but extreme march organised by Alek Yerbury in Hull on 18 March 2023, during which protestors carried banners reading “NO MORE REFUGEES” and other slogans. 

Tamworth

On 4 August, a mob of far-right activists set upon the Tamworth Holiday Inn Express, smashing windows and throwing petrol bombs, partially burning a side hallway. Racist slogans like “fuck p***s” and “get out England” were sprayed on the wall of the hotel.

Britain First activist, Timothy Burton, made a video at the Tamworth Holiday Inn Express on 27 October 2022.

This hotel has been targeted twice by Britain First, and became the focus of Ashlea Simon’s by-election campaign in the constituency last autumn.

On 27 October 2022, the party’s then-West Midlands organiser, Timothy Burton, made a video at the hotel accosting a resident and questioning staff about whether the hotel was going to be used for “illegal migrants”. Nearly a year later, in early October 2023, Britain First activists were back, staging a protest outside the same hotel as part of Simon’s campaign. Emblazoned on the side of their “battle bus” were the slogans: “Stop the boats” and “Keep Tamworth British”.

Britain First’s “battle bus” parked outside the Tamworth Holiday Inn Express during Ashlea Simon’s by-election campaign in October 2023.

During the campaign, Britain First claimed to have distributed 6,000 packs to postal voters and 10,000 leaflets to houses in the constituency. This literature directly targeted the Tamworth Holiday Inn and accused the government of “using Tamworth as a dumping ground for working-age illegal migrant men” and of “[facilitating] the illegal immigration invasion of Britain”.

A piece of Ashlea Simon’s campaign literature used during the 2023 Tamworth by-election.

Less than 12 months after the by-election, a crowd of locals attempted to set fire to the hotel.

Undeterred by the attempted arson, Britain First staged a march in Tamworth (led by Golding and Simon) on 5 October 2024 with a banner that read ‘PENSIONERS BEFORE MIGRANTS’.

Nottingham

Unlike Hull, Rotherham and Tamworth, Nottingham did not endure large-scale disorder this summer, but there were clashes between anti-migrant protesters and both police and counter-protesters, leading to a number of arrests.

An anti-migrant protester at the Nottingham demonstration on 3 August 2024. (Photo: HOPE not hate)

There has been a steady stream of anti-migrant activity in Nottingham, including at least 14 migrant hunter hotel visits since April 2021, as well as two anti-migrant demonstrations opportunistically called in the aftermath of the appalling Nottingham attack. This does not include the long-running anti-migrant campaign in Kegworth just outside Nottingham, nor the repeated hotel visits in other nearby areas such as Long Eaton, both of which have been repeatedly targeted by fascist groups.

Paul Golding of Britain First gained entry to the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham on 20 April 2021.

Whilst Amanda Smith has made the majority of the asylum accommodation visits, Britain First made videos at four different Nottingham hotels between 2021 and 2023. On one occasion, leader Paul Golding gained entry to a hotel and accosted residents, pressing them to reveal from where they had arrived and uploading the footage to the group’s social media.

Identity England activists pose with a banner at a flash demo on the steps of the University of Nottingham’s Student Union on 25 June 2023.

Following the Nottingham murders, two anti-migrant demonstrations were called in the city by far-right groups at short notice, first by Patriotic Alternative on 17 June 2023, and the other was by the tiny Identity England on 25 June. Both groups sought to exploit the city’s grief by focusing on the attacker’s ethnicity.

Bristol

On 3 August, Bristol also witnessed an outbreak of serious violence and the targeting of an asylum accommodation site. Anti-fascists bravely positioned themselves between far-right thugs and the entrance to the Mercure Holland House Hotel, with far-right activists raining punches and objects down on a line of anti-fascists, who held firm.

Fuel on the fire: Jeremy Davis is one of a number of anti-migrant activists who singled out the Mercure Bristol.

Whilst Bristol has not endured the same degree of anti-migrant activism as Rotherham, Nottingham or Hull over the years, its Mercure hotel has remained a regular target for far-right activists online.

For example, Leggett, Laws and the wedding DJ-turned anti-migrant activist, Jeremy Davis (AKA Little Boats), have all targeted the hotel. In a 30 August 2023 tweet, Davis (who produced a national list of asylum hotels that was circulated widely in far-right circles for period) described the Mercure Bristol as “the latest Quisling outfit to sack its staff to house economic parasites crossing the Channel” and in another described those staying at the hotel as “predators”.

Patriotic Alternative protesters outside the Holland House branch of the Mercure hotel in Bristol, 23 September 2023.

The hotel has also suffered a protest by fascist organisation, Patriotic Alternative. On 23 September 2023, a group of activists unfurling banners which read: ‘YOU PAY, MIGRANTS STAY” and “END THE INVASION, STOP IMMIGRATION”. 

Laying the groundwork

The picture provided above is incomplete. Anti-migrant activists have previously been active in other areas which subsequently saw rioting and disorder, including in Newton Heath and Stoke-on-Trent.

However, the evidence is clear that years of anti-migrant activism laid the groundwork for the carnage of August 2024. Repeated intrusions into communities by migrant hunters and far-right organisations exacerbated situations that were already challenging to manage. In doing so, they pushed anti-migrant narratives that were picked up by a post-organisational far right and elements of the reactionary press, compounding feelings of local grievance.

Steve Laws doubles-down during the riots.

“Hold the line. Do not disavow” tweeted Steve Laws from the safety of his home in Kent, whilst hundreds were being arrested for violent disorder across the UK. Responsibility for the disorder, then, sits not just with those who perpetrated the carnage up and down the country, but with an array of far-right figures who have actively inflamed tensions both during and prior.

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