{"id":36251,"date":"2025-08-30T17:53:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T17:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/hundreds-face-off-outside-falkirk-hotel-in-asylum-seeker-protests\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T17:53:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T17:53:35","slug":"hundreds-face-off-outside-falkirk-hotel-in-asylum-seeker-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/hundreds-face-off-outside-falkirk-hotel-in-asylum-seeker-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds face off outside Falkirk hotel in asylum seeker protests"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Chris Clements and Paul Ward<\/span>BBC News, Falkirk<\/span><\/p>\n

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Falkirk saw large-scale protests on Saturday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Hundreds of pro and anti-immigration demonstrators have gathered outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Falkirk.<\/p>\n

It is the second large-scale demonstration this month outside the Cladhan Hotel in the town.<\/p>\n

The groups, numbering several hundred on each side, were separated by lines of police officers and metal railings.<\/p>\n

Among the anti immigration crowd there were signs reading “stop the boats'”and “enough is enough”, while counter demonstrators chanted “refugees are welcome here”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier, a gathering of anti-immigration protesters took place in the centre of Falkirk near the office of the local MP.<\/p>\n

Children and families were among the group in the town centre.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Some protesters used a loudspeaker with one saying: “Keep the pressure up and we can shut this hotel. The council need to act.”<\/p>\n

Another man, addressing the crowd, said he and his family had “fair and legitimate concerns about too much illegal immigration”.<\/p>\n

He added: “We are described as Nazis and racists. Nothing could be further from the truth.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Counter protests have also taken place in Falkirk<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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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”.<\/p>\n

Speakers also criticised mainstream media including the BBC, claiming journalists had not accurately covered the concerns of citizens.<\/p>\n

At one point, an individual finished his speech by saying: “Keep Britain white. Keep Scotland white”.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The demonstrators were kept on different sides of the road outside the hotel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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People take part in a Save Our Future and Our Kids Futures protest outside the Cladhan Hotel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The different groups faced off on either side of a road<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“The real issue is people in government aren’t tackling the issues properly and the wrong people are being blamed for our problems.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Demonstrators<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A demonstration also took place in Aberdeen near a hotel housing asylum seekrs<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A separate protest also took place in Aberdeen on Saturday. <\/p>\n

About 120 protesters gathered on Links Road at a hotel formerly known as the Patio.<\/p>\n

The protest was organised by the Aberdeen Against Illegal Immigration group<\/p>\n

About 50 counter protesters gathered, but each side was kept apart by a significant police presence.<\/p>\n

Each side traded insults, trying to outdo the other side with bagpipe music.<\/p>\n

Chants of “send them home” went up as two men appeared from the hotel wearing masks to greet the counter protesters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A number of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers have been held in Scotland during August, in Perth, Aberdeenshire and Falkirk.<\/p>\n

The Cladhan in Falkirk and the Radisson Blu in Perth became asylum seeker hotels in August 2022. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The group claims it cannot be blamed for inflammatory banners including one unfurled at a previous Falkirk demonstration that read “kill ’em all”.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in the town centre.<\/p>\n

Nikzad was jailed for nine years.<\/p>\n

There have been previous anti-asylum seeker protests in Scotland \u2013 one was held in Ayr in 2015, called by the Scottish Defence League, an offshoot of the English Defence League. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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