Protests against sex assaults on children by migrants in government hotels saw police make further arrests on Sunday night and orders to ban face coverings, and street organiser Tommy Robinson questioning whether he’d go to the town.
It has been almost two weeks since an alleged sex assault of a 14-year-old girl, said to have been perpetrated by a resident of a local hotel taken over by the government to house a migrant plantation, and protests in the Essex town of Epping continue with no clear sign of abating. Locals took to the streets again outside The Bell Hotel on Sunday evening, with state broadcaster the BBC estimating over 1,000 people turning out.
Essex police said in preparation for the protest they had deployed a section 60AA order across the whole town, banning face coverings and mandating they be removed. Later in the evening, they enacted a Section 35 dispersal order “to prevent further crime or anti-social behaviour” and said all protesters had been cleared by eleven o’clock.
Six people were arrested on Sunday, four for alleged violence at the earlier protest on Thursday 17th and who were recognised by officers again and pulled from the crowd. Charges included criminal damage, violent disorder, and breaching the face covering order.
Chants heard at the protest included “protect our kids”, “shame on you”, and “send them home”.
Police said there were “angry and violent scenes” when a counter protester — described as an “elderly woman” — attempted to walk through the anti-child-sex-assault protest. The force said “Missiles were thrown at her and a number of individuals were shouting abuse and trying to reach the woman” and that they surrounded her for her protection.
Previously, police have claimed that disorder has been caused by troublemakers coming into from outside of Epping. Yet according to what information has been made available so far, the majority of arrests have been of people from Epping, or adjacent towns in the county of Essex.
EPPING, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 2025/07/20: Police line up in a cordon to enforce a dispersal order at the end of the protest in the evening. Lab Ky Mo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The force used their statement on Sunday evening to push back against claims about their behaviour, and likely in response to widely-spread claims last week that Essex Police had shown preferential treatment to ‘Stand up to Racism’ counter-protesters that appeared to have been bussed into the area. Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said: “I would also like to set the record straight around misinformation that Essex Police is anything other than impartial.
“We don’t take sides, we arrest criminals and we have a duty to ensure no-one is hurt – plain and simple. I know the people of Essex know what we’re about so I know they won’t believe the rubbish circulating online that is designed to do nothing more than inflame tensions and trouble.”
In a message to the protesters themselves, he continued: “ur cells, which have been filling up throughout the evening, are ready for you, so don’t be in any doubt that this is where you will be sleeping.”
Protesters outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex. There have been a number of demonstrations outside the hotel, believed to be housing asylum seekers, since police charged 38-year-old asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu with sexual assault following an incident where he is alleged to have attempted to kiss a 14-year-old girl. Picture date: Sunday July 20, 2025. Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images
As previously reported, the unrest in Epping kicked off over an alleged sex assault in the town by a migrant who was arrested, brought before a magistrate, and who denied all charges. As stated:
…on Tuesday 8th, [police] had arrested a “man acting inappropriately towards a number of people” in the town. That individual, 38-year-old Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu of Ethiopia, a resident of The Bell migrant hotel, was charged with three counts of sexual assault, one of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one of harassment.
It is reported these alleged crimes took place eight days after Kebatu arrived in the United Kingdom. He appeared in court on Thursday 17th and denied all charges and is being held by police pending his next court appearance, next month.
Following the initial arrest of Kebatu last week, there was a protest at the Bell Hotel on Sunday 13th. Essex police said the protest itself was peaceful but that two security staff employed by the hotel were “seriously assaulted” elsewhere in the town by a “group of men” and ran to police lines for protection. The force say they are “treating it as racially aggravated” abuse and are investigating.
Days later on Tuesday 15th there was an incident of a man shouting “racial abuse” at the Bell Hotel and causing damage. A suspect was arrested on the same day.
EPPING, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 2025/07/20: A child climbs on a large sign demanding “Stop the boats” during the rally. Photo by Lab Ky Mo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
On Thursday 17th Epping saw a large protest at which several arrests were made. In an apparent rush to vacate an area, a police truck smashed through a makeshift roadblock se up by malcontents, striking a protester and throwing him along the road.
On Sunday, anticipating another protest a week hence veteran street organiser and anti-migrant rape activist Tommy Robinson stated he’d attend Epping on July 27th and bring “thousands”. Yet hours later Robinson said he was rethinking the plan, stating his opinion it seemed the Epping protesters were already “winning” on their own and seemed to be on the road to getting their hotel shut down.
He said on Monday:
… I’m thinking about Epping, which has been entirely local-led… I said yesterday I’m going to come… it may not benefit the cause for me to come… Local families, local women, local mothers, local children. Concerned, worried, scared, having a local impact. I may give [the government] the excuse… to give them a reason to label it in a different way, that’s my current thought process at the minute. Whilst I think more people will go if we’re going on Sunday, I they’re winning, they’re currently winning.
Now there are two options. Flood the place with outside people, maybe give the media and the politicians a reason to clamp down and go against it. Or leave it to the locals who are galvanising their community and actually set an example to the rest of the country.
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