A group of masked agitators gathered outside a four-star hotel in Portsmouth after reports a group of asylum seekers had been taken there, when it was in fact Pakistan’s under-19 cricket team on a tour. George Madgwick, a Reform councillor called to the hotel to mediate between staff and the assembled crowd, said it was a “massively unfortunate incident”. Madgwick, who leads the Reform group on Hampshire council and whose ward includes the four-star Marriott hotel, said he nonetheless believed the incident was understandable given recent coverage of asylum seekers arriving in the city via small boats.
Hundreds of people, many wearing balaclavas, clashed with police in Portsmouth on Sunday evening after a dinghy carrying asylum seekers reached its coastline from France. Police are investigating potential assaults and criminal damage. It came a day after crowds of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas blocked the road around the port of Dover for several hours.
Daniel Thomas, a far-right activist closely linked to Tommy Robinson, claimed to have arranged both demonstrations. Madgwick said he was at home on Tuesday evening when he was called and told that about 40 people had gathered outside the Marriott hotel, many wearing balaclavas or other face coverings, after reports that asylum seekers were staying there. He went there and spoke to the hotel manager, who “explained the situation” – the hotel was hosting members of an under-21 cricket team from Pakistan, who are touring the south coast and using the Marriott as their base.
Madgwick said the group massed outside after reports that about 40 men who did not seem to be English had arrived at the hotel, and that the coach which took them was from the same company who moved the asylum seekers who came by boat. It was a massively unfortunate incident. He said: “It doesn’t make our city look like the welcoming city it is.
But it’s reflective of the climate we live in, and where people are deeply concerned about the issues.” The news first emerged after Madgwick put out a Facebook post urging people to stay away from the area. He wrote: “There were reports that possible migrants were staying in the Marriott hotel. I can confirm that is NOT the case.
Please don’t attend the hotel. A number of you messaged me and asked me to come down. I spoke to the hotel and they agreed to meet me.” At the hotel, as well as speaking to the hotel staff and team coach, Madgwick was shown “proof” that the men were indeed cricketers, he added.
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