Anti-Migrant Protesters Invade Hotel of Pakistani Cricket Team

Protesters banged on the bedroom doors of Portsmouth’s Marriott hotel on Tuesday night, believing they had found a group of migrants to harass. However, they went home after discovering they were protesting a visiting Pakistani cricket team.

Protesters reportedly reached the floor the professional athletes were staying on, believing the four-star hotel was being used to house asylum seekers. 

The chief operating officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Sumair Syed, told the BBC the team reported people “knocking on their doors”, but the cricketers “behaved responsibly and didn’t escalate the situation” he said. 

Councillor George Madgwick, the leader of Reform UK in Hampshire was in attendance.

In a since deleted Facebook post he wrote: “A number of concerned local residents spotted what they believed to be migrants going into the Marriott hotel.

“I visited the manager and the hotel explained it was a Pakistani Cricket team staying. The cricket team coach came to speak to me personally and I saw proof (hotel were happy to provide).”

Madgwick claimed he spoke directly to the crowd of “40/50 people” who he said “respectfully accepted” that the guests weren’t asylum seekers and left within five minutes. 

The incident comes as Hampshire Police investigate reports of assaults and criminal damage on Sunday night, when far-right activist ‘Danny Tommo’ led hundreds of people to Portsmouth harbour. The crowd, some of whom were wearing masks, confronted riot police in order to stop the arrival of 120 people who had been travelling to the UK in a single dinghy.

Hampshire Police said no offences were committed on Tuesday, and the crowd dispersed at around 9pm.

Madgwick, who has been conducting an extended media round defending the anti-migrant protest on Sunday night, appeared to take credit. “I���m glad I could do my bit to help the situation and stop tensions rising,” he said on Facebook. 

“The hotel manager was very thankful and actually was sympathetic to the local issues at the moment but just wanted her guests not to have to worry, which is fair enough.”

In a caustic post on Facebook, Portsmouth Stand Up to Racism said Madgwick “fell short of claiming that he deserved the Nobel Peace prize for his mediation skills.”

The group added: “Allowing racists to mobilise like this every time they become suspicious of any group of non-white people in Portsmouth is extremely dangerous. It is racism in action and it has to stop.”

The Portsmouth Marriott hotel has been approached for comment.

This is not the first time migrant-mania has led to confusion. Last year, Reform UK politician Ryan Coogan, shared a picture of some people getting out of a minibus in Cromer and asked, “Is this part of another quiet relocation scheme – although these usually happen in the middle of the night?” The image was also circulated on far-right Facebook groups, but it turned out to be a group of young churchgoers on a trip to the seaside.

Anyone who believes that Reform’s anti-migrant stance could improve things for the workers in the UK might be interested in The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s (TBIJ)  finding that two of Madgwick’s restaurant businesses have been ordered to pay £4,386 to former employees for breaching employment law, by failing to pay holiday and maternity pay. He told TBIJ the rulings were made without the companies having the opportunity to defend the claims.