Anti-migrant protesters mistakenly target Pakistan U-19 team hotel in UK

LONDON: Anti-immigration demonstrators in southern England massed outside a hotel where Pakistan’s U-19 cricket squad were staying after mistaking them for asylum seekers, British media reported on Wednesday. The incident on Tuesday evening in a northern suburb of Portsmouth occurred some 48 hours after protesters disrupted the disembarkation of scores of migrants near the port city and confronted police in widely condemned scenes. 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 said. The senior Pakistan men’s side are currently involved in the third Test against England at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground. 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,…