Feb. 11 (UPI) — Fifteen people were arrested during a violent protest outside a hotel filled with foreign asylum seekers near Liverpool on Friday, British police said.
Officers were overseeing a peaceful protest outside the hotel in the borough of Knowsley, which borders the northern England city, but were soon dealing with a rival group of demonstrators, Merseyside Police said a statement.
“Sadly, a short while later a number of people, who were not part of the original protest group turned up, and it is clear that they were only interested in causing trouble through violence and intimidation without any thought, or care, for other members of the public, or our officers,” they said.
“During the evening, missiles including lit fireworks were thrown at officers and one of our police vans was attacked by offenders, using hammers before setting it on fire,” police added.
Video posted on social media shows the van fully engulfed in flames with smoke billowing into the sky.
Two members of the public were slightly injured and crowds were dispersed and streets reopened by Saturday morning. One officer was also hurt but the department did not specify the extent of the injury.
The violence began after 6:30 p.m. local time. Witnesses estimated around 300 or 400 people were involved in the clash.
Those arrested ranged in age from 13 to 54, and included 13 men and two women. They were detained on “suspicion of violent disorder,” according to police.
Investigators said they are continuing to review footage of the event and haven’t ruled out further arrests or charges.
“A number of individuals who turned up at the Suites Hotel last night were intent on using a planned protest to carry out violent and despicable behavior,” Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said in a statement.
“They turned up armed with hammers and fireworks to cause as much trouble as they could and their actions could have resulted in members of the public and police officers being seriously injured, or worse,” she said.
At least some of the protesters were there in response to “rumors and misinformation” concerning a separate incident elsewhere in Britain this week involving allegations of “inappropriate advances toward a teenage girl” by an asylum seeker, she said.
The violence drew the ire of British Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
“I condemn the appalling disorder in Knowsley last night. The alleged behavior of some asylum seekers is never an excuse for violence and intimidation,” Braverman tweeted Saturday.
The Labour Party’s leadership in Knowsley also denounced the violence.
“We call for calm and for all the community not to engage in any way in this violence and call on everyone concerned to show constraint,” they said in a statement.