The evacuation of thousands of Afghan refugees to the UK after Kabul fell to the Taliban has triggered an increase in extremist groups targeting hotels where they are being accommodated, according to those monitoring the activities of far-right groups.
Britain First is one of the most prominent organisations involved and has made more than a dozen unsolicited visits to hotels housing Afghan refugees in areas including Telford, Stoke-on-Trent and Colchester according to its own website in recent weeks.
Hope Not Hate, the charity which monitors the activities of the far right, says the resettlement schemes for Afhans have become a focal point for many of these groups. It says the arrival of the refugees has led to the far right refining similar attacks used during the Syria crisis The charity says the far right is using Islamophobic narratives such as the Muslim takeover of Europe framing refugees as potential terrorists or sexual predators.
Britain First and For Britain, another far-right political party, claim to be concerned about the cost of resettlement of Afghan refugees to UK taxpayers. For Britain has focused on claiming that the new migration will increase unemployment among British workers.
Patriotic Alternative, a white nationalist political group, is promoting a Write to your MP action for its followers to protest about the resettlement of Afghans in the UK. They also did a series of banner drops with the words We Will Not Be Replaced, including one in the constituency of the home secretary, Priti Patel.
The Britain First hotel visits sometimes fronted by the organisation s leader, Paul Golding, and Ashlea Simon, who describes herself as chief of staff of the party follow a similar formula.
The videos start with the same music and then show shots, possibly promotional material from the hotels websites, of luxurious bedrooms and communal areas.
The far-right activists then film themselves turning up at these hotels trying to find refugees who they incorrectly describe as illegal immigrants.
They approach them either inside the hotels or in the grounds, ask them where they are from and if they re waiting for a house. When challenged by hotel staff they say they are filming for social media, without volunteering the name of the organisation they belong to. At that point they are usually ordered or escorted off the hotel premises.
Britain First say that they have been barred from various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Far-right YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson has recently posted about negative reviews on Tripadvisor from Afghan visitors to a Scarborough hotel which is accommodating British refugee families. Far-right groups have urged their supporters to post negative reviews on Tripadvisor about hotels where Afghan refugees are being accommodated.
Britain First recently held a flash protest outside a hotel housing Afghan refugees near Wigan. They made allegations that male refugees at the hotel were sexually harassing schoolgirls, claims that police said were baseless. It is not the first time the far right have made these false claims.
Similar claims were made that asylum seekers accommodated at Folkestone barracks in Napier were sexually harassing local schoolgirls. When police investigated the claims they found that the school was closed at the time of the alleged incidents. The information was obtained in Freedom of Information requests obtained by the Guardian from Kent County Council.
A spokesperson for Hope Not Hate said: It s grimly predictable to see the far right harassing Afghan refugees where they are living. Immigration has long been a focus of the far right, but they have capitalised on the Afghan resettlement scheme to bring together Islamophobic tropes with anti-migrant hate.
They are using Islamophobic narratives of a Muslim takeover of Europe framing refugees as potential terrorists or sexual predators and underpinning these with a rejection of the political system to offer a hateful alternative. Britain First has been approached for comment.