Anti-migration protesters gather at council office

Protesters marched between Gloucester's Guildhall to Shire Hall

A crowd of anti-immigration demonstrators gathered outside a city hall today in protest at the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

Around 75 people marched towards to the Gloucestershire County Council offices on Westgate Street in Gloucester in protest at the use of two hotels in the city to house migrants.

They were met by around 200 counter-protesters, but kept separate by two fences and a line of police officers.

Gloucestershire Constabulary said one man was arrested on suspicion of breaching public order conditions and was in custody.

Protester Paige Elliot told the BBC: "It should be an English county because it's England. It's as simple as that. I think that's what everyone wants - we just want it to be like it was back in the day."

The counter demonstration numbered around 200 people and was kept separate

Ex serviceman Andy Martin said: "Why should they come to the UK unvetted, unprepared, without even the language, and expect to just take from us with nothing given back?"

Protester Kerri Frost-Hulme said the protest was about putting "British citizens first".

"British people are suffering, we can't get a doctor's [appointment], we can't get to the dentist - we pay our taxes and really that's got to be taken into consideration, so that's why I'm here today," she said.

Protester Kerri said the protest was about putting British citizens first

BBC West also heard from several counter protesters.

Ben Brockett said: "I think there's a lot of misinformation going around about immigration and asylum seekers in particular.

"I think a lot of people have a right to be angry, but I think it's being pointed in the wrong direction."

Elizabeth Stanley added: "I think it's important we look for hope and love in our communities."

"People are scared and I get that. The problem is this tendency to blame a convenient scapegoat and the people in the hotel are noticeable, so attention focuses on them."

Lisa Spivey, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, voiced concern over the symbolic choice of Shire Hall as the protest's endpoint.

"While we respect the right to peaceful protest, it is regrettable that demonstrators have chosen to gather outside our council offices where our staff work hard day in and day out to deliver essential services for residents but where no decisions relating to the Home Office run asylum scheme are taken," she said.