Overview

• Britain’s Court of Appeal overturned an injunction sought by Epping Forest District Council, allowing the Home Office and Somani Hotels to continue housing about 138 asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel.
• Demonstrations and counter‑protests were reported across London, Epping, Falkirk, Newcastle, Gloucester, Swindon and Bournemouth, with police deploying dispersal powers and face‑covering removal orders.
• The Metropolitan Police said five people were arrested after masked men tried to enter the Crowne Plaza near Heathrow, with two officers sustaining minor injuries as cordons were enforced around nearby hotels.
• Essex Police imposed a Section 60AA order and a dispersal zone around the Bell Hotel through early Sunday; three arrests were made outside the site on Friday, with two men later charged.
• Ministers restated a pledge to close asylum hotels by the end of the parliament as Lord Charlie Falconer warned of political fallout, and councils across the country signalled further legal challenges to hotel use.