Hundreds face off outside Falkirk hotel in asylum seeker protests

Hundreds of pro and anti-immigration demonstrators have held rival protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Falkirk.

It was the second large-scale demonstration this month outside the Cladhan Hotel in the town.

The groups, numbering several hundred on each side, were separated by lines of police officers and metal railings.

Among the anti immigration crowd there were signs reading "stop the boats'"and "enough is enough", while counter demonstrators chanted "refugees are welcome here".

Earlier on Saturday, a gathering of anti-immigration protesters took place in the centre of Falkirk near the office of the local MP.

Children and families were among the group in the town centre.

Saltire and Union flags were waved and there were also signs reading "save our futures and our kids' futures", the name of a group that called the protest.

Some protesters used a loudspeaker with one saying: "Keep the pressure up and we can shut this hotel. The council need to act."

Another man, addressing the crowd, said he and his family had "fair and legitimate concerns about too much illegal immigration".

He added: "We are described as Nazis and racists. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Counter protests also took place in Falkirk

During the protest, crowds heard from a number of speakers who lambasted UK immigration policy, criticised the use of hotels to house asylum seekers and stated the gathering was not "far right".

Speakers also criticised mainstream media including the BBC, claiming journalists had not accurately covered the concerns of citizens.

At one point, an individual finished his speech by saying: "Keep Britain white. Keep Scotland white".

Organisers told protesters that initial plans to march to the Cladhan would not take place due to "legal implications" and warnings from police and the council over a lack of permission.

The demonstrators were kept on different sides of the road outside the hotel

People took part in a Save Our Future and Our Kids Futures protest outside the Cladhan Hotel

The different groups faced off on either side of a road

However, shortly after 13:00, a crowd broke away from the main protest and walked in small groups to join a second protest outside the Cladhan, where they were met by counter-demonstrators.

Outside the hotel, a woman called Sage, one of the organisers of the pro-immigration demonstration, said: "So many people are blaming the ills of our society - the housing crisis, cost of living - on people fleeing here from around the world.

"The real issue is people in government aren't tackling the issues properly and the wrong people are being blamed for our problems."

A demonstration also took place in Aberdeen near a hotel housing asylum seekrs

A separate protest also took place in Aberdeen on Saturday.

About 120 protesters gathered on Links Road at a hotel formerly known as the Patio.

The protest was organised by the Aberdeen Against Illegal Immigration group

About 50 counter protesters gathered, but each side was kept apart by a significant police presence.

Each side traded insults, trying to outdo the other side with bagpipe music.

Chants of "send them home" went up as two men appeared from the hotel wearing masks to greet the counter protesters.

A number of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers have been held in Scotland during August, in Perth, Aberdeenshire and Falkirk.

The Cladhan in Falkirk and the Radisson Blu in Perth became asylum seeker hotels in August 2022.

The Save Our Future Campaign, one of the groups organising protests, denies it is racist, and has made claims about asylum seekers being "fast tracked" in social housing.

The group claims it cannot be blamed for inflammatory banners including one unfurled at a previous Falkirk demonstration that read "kill 'em all".

The feelings in Falkirk have been inflamed after an asylum seeker from Afghanistan Sadeq Nikzad, 29, was convicted in June of raping a 15 year old girl in the town centre.

Nikzad was jailed for nine years.

There have been previous anti-asylum seeker protests in Scotland – one was held in Ayr in 2015, called by the Scottish Defence League, an offshoot of the English Defence League.

Others were held outside a hotel in Erskine in 2023, organised by a far right group called Patriotic Alternative and also by Homeland, a group which splintered from Patriotic Alternative.

There were 5,630 asylum seekers in Scotland, according to 30 June figures.

There are more than 1,500 in hotels, with about 90 in the Falkirk Council area.