UK police on alert for immigration protests near London this weekend

LONDON (Reuters) -British police will have hundreds of officers on duty this weekend to deal with protests linked to immigration, a regional police chief said on Wednesday, amid worries over possible rioting.

Ben-Julian Harrington said he was aware demonstrations were being advertised for Saturday and Sunday in Epping, in the county of Essex to London's northeast, after protests over the last week which resulted in violent disorder offences.

"We'll have a robust policing operation. Essex is safe. You will have hundreds of officers on duty," Harrington, the Essex chief constable, told a press conference.

The protests occurred outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 20 miles north of London, that has been used to house asylum seekers.

Five men have been charged with incidents of violent disorder in recent days, after police made 10 arrests following damage to vehicles and protesters throwing projectiles that injured eight officers.

The police alert follows nationwide rioting last summer when racist unrest involving far-right supporters broke out after false reports on social media that a suspect in the murder of three girls was a radical Islamist migrant.

The anniversary of those murders in Southport is July 29.

Essex Police's focus is on protecting communities while allowing peaceful protest to take place, Harrington said.

The Epping hotel has become the focal point for some anti-immigration protesters and pro-immigration groups after an Ethiopian asylum seeker living there was charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity. He denies the charges, according to a BBC report.

The man had arrived in Britain by boat from northern Europe eight days before the alleged incident on July 7, the BBC said, adding he had been remanded in custody.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to stop thousands of migrants arriving in Britain via small boats, but is struggling to do so. Official data published earlier this month showed nearly 20,000 asylum seekers arrived on small boats in the first six months of the year, marking a record high for the period.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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