Potentially violent protests erupted across Britain on Sunday after a false rumor spread about a teenage boy who allegedly stabbed three children to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last week.
Right-wing protesters clashed with police and counter-demonstrators at the Holiday Inn Express Rotherham in South Yorkshire, which houses migrant asylum seekers.
More than 100 people have been arrested so far following riots across the UK.
Harrowing footage from a hotel in Rotherham showed hundreds of rioters hurling bins and other heavy projectiles at officers guarding the building, while protesters started a fire next to the Holiday Inn and smashed windows.
At least one officer was injured in Sunday’s clashes and was seen limping away with the help of another officer, and several protesters were seen spraying police with fire extinguishers before reaching the hotel lobby.
Crowds could be heard chanting “Get them out” as hotel guests looked on at the chaos below. The Telegraph reports..
Protesters from the “Group Against Racism” were initially at the scene but reportedly left as unrest spread.
It was unclear whether there were any asylum seekers in the hotel or if they had been evacuated following earlier protests. According to the BBC.
“The safety and security of our guests and employees is always our top priority,” IHG, which owns Holiday Inn Express, said in a statement.
Another protest broke out in Middlesbrough, where more than 300 people broke through police barricades and vandalised a taxi in the town centre before marching into the streets.
British police issued dispersal orders on Sunday in Southport, Liverpool and Bolton, where other protests erupted.
The protests erupted after far-right social media groups posted unsubstantiated claims that a 17-year-old man arrested for killing three girls at a dance class last week was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Police said the allegations were false and that the suspect was born in the UK.
The suspect, identified as Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain to parents who emigrated from Rwanda, a country where more than 90% of the population is Christian.
Despite the explanation, protests have continued, with an immigrant hotel in Rotherham at the centre of the violence.
