Pakistan Team Mistaken For Asylum Seekers In UK By Anti-Immigrant Protestors

The ongoing anti-immigrant protests in the United Kingdom took a bizarre turn on Tuesday. According to a report, demonstrators gathered outside a hotel in southern England where Pakistan’s Under-19 cricket team were staying, mistakenly believing them to be asylum seekers. The incident occurred on Tuesday evening in Portsmouth, just 48 hours after protesters disrupted the disembarkation of dozens of migrants near the port city and clashed with police in scenes that were widely condemned. Interestingly, Pakistan’s senior men’s team is also in England, currently playing the third Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham. 

Immigration and the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers annually on small boats from mainland Europe has become a politically toxic issue in Britain, sparking numerous protests in recent years, some turning violent. 

Tuesday’s incident came after reports online about a coach with young Asian men on board being seen at a Marriott Hotel in the Portsmouth suburb of Cosham drew protestors to the venue, according to media reports.

A councillor from anti-immigration party Reform UK went to the scene and helped disperse the crowd after confirming the men were in fact members of Pakistan’s teenage cricket team, The Guardian newspaper said.

A spokesman for Hampshire Police — which is responsible for the region — said the force “were notified that a group of people were starting to congregate” near the hotel Tuesday evening.

“Officers subsequently attended and spoke to members of the public that had gathered who were expressing concerns about a coach that had been seen in the area,” the spokesman added.

“The officers explained that their concerns were not correct,” the spokesman said, without confirming the Pakistani cricketers were the mistaken target.

He noted the crowd of around 30 people dispersed a short time later and no offences were identified.

Michael Bradley, a national organiser from the Stand Up To Racism organisation, condemned the incident as showing “where the scapegoating of refugees and migrants can lead”.

“When a Pakistan U-19’s team is faced by protests because it ‘might’ in fact be a group of migrants it means that effectively any group of black or Asian people coming into the city are being seen by the far right as a potential target,” he said.

“It’s obvious where all this is going to end — racist attacks and more violence.”

(With AFP inputs)

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