Overview

• Sarah White, a mother of three active in demonstrations over the Bell Hotel, was arrested after hanging a Union flag from Epping’s council offices.
• The arrest followed recent protests that intensified after a Court of Appeal decision allowed the hotel to continue housing asylum seekers.
• The ruling overturned a High Court order that would have required 138 residents to be removed by September 12.
• White was released on bail with conditions, including being barred from the civic centre, and is due in court on October 15, the same day a three-day hearing on the hotel’s future begins.
• Essex Police said two men were also arrested in connection with the protest, which grew after a resident of the hotel was charged and later found guilty of sexual assaults.