Protest-hit Epping hotel is told to temporarily STOP accepting asylum seekers as council says migrants have become ‘very serious problem’

A hotel in Epping has been ordered to temporarily stop accepting asylum seekers, as the local council says they have become a ‘very serious problem’. 

The Bell Hotel has been targeted by spate of anti-immigration protests after one of its residents was charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl last month. 

Forty-one-year-old, Hadush Kebatu, from Ethiopia has been remanded in custody, and has denied the charges lodged against him.

At one point, there were as many as 2,000 people protesting near the controversial hotel, with 16 charged with offences related to disturbances near the location.

Now, Epping Forest District Council is seeking a temporary injunction from the High Court against its owners, Somani Hotels Ltd, to stop migrants being housed there. 

The injunction sought by the authority, if granted, would require the company to stop housing asylum seekers at the hotel within 14 days. 

Mr Justice Eyre, who heard submissions from both parties at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand on Friday, ordered the hotel owners to not accept any new applications from asylum seekers until a ruling was reached on Tuesday. 

It comes after lawyers representing the council said housing asylum seekers at the hotel is becoming a ‘very serious problem’ which ‘could not be much worse’. 

Protesters march in the streets of Epping last month, with two women carrying an English flag bearing the slogan ‘The Only Way is Epping’ 

A protester jumps up and down on the roof of a police van at a protest on July 17 outside The Bell Hotel

During the July 17 protest in Epping, anti-immigration protesters attacked police vans with officers trapped inside

The Bell Hotel in Epping, which has housed migrants on and off for the last five years, has become a hotspot for protests against asylum seekers 

Police are seen outside the hotel in Epping amid protest at the site 

They also  claimed that Somani Hotels had breached planning rules as the site is no longer being used for its intended purpose as a hotel. 

Opening the hearing in London, Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said: ‘Epping Forest District Council comes to this court seeking an injunction because it has a very serious problem.

‘It is a problem that is getting out of hand; it is a problem that is causing a great anxiety to those living in the district.

‘The problem has arisen because of a breach of planning control by the defendant.’

Mr Coppel also referenced the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by an asylum seeker who was placed in the hotel and said several schools were in the nearby area.

He said: ‘Having this sort of thing go on in such a concentration of schools with no measures in place to stop a repetition is not acceptable.’

He continued: ‘It really could not be much worse than this.’

In written submissions for the hearing, Mr Coppel said there was a ‘preponderance of factors overwhelmingly in favour of granting an injunction’.

A police officer watches over protesters in front of an English flag reading ‘The Only Way is Epping’ 

Police stand guard outside Epping Forest District Council offices on July 24 

He said these included removing ‘the catalyst for violent protests in public places’.

The barrister added: ‘Allowing the status quo to continue is wholly unacceptable, providing a feeding ground for unrest.’

He also told the court that the case has been brought against the hotel owner because it is the landowner, and had previously applied for planning permission.

Concluding his submissions, Mr Coppel tol
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