A judge has ordered an asylum seeker should be relocated from a hotel where a protest led to violent scenes in February.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Knowsley hotel on February 10, this year for what police said were initially "peaceful" protests. However a Matrix van was set on fire and lit fireworks were aimed at the hotel and police as disturbances broke out.
A high court judge has now said one of the refugees should be moved from the hotel due to his deteriorating mental health triggered by the scenes. The man, who cannot be legally identified, has reportedly been diagnosed with severe depression, anxiety and PTSD.
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The Guardian reported that the man had been kidnapped and tortured in Afghanistan, lost teeth and suffered head and hand injuries. He is from a minority group in his home country and had fled soon after the Taliban took control.
The ECHO has reported that other asylum seekers alleged they were assaulted in the streets in the weeks following the protests. Knowsley MP Sir George Howarth also made the claims in the House of Commons when opposing to the government's "small boats" bill.
The bill would see anyone arriving in the UK on a small boat have their asylum claim deemed "inadmissible", with arrivals subsequently removed.
Sir George told the Commons: "There is a hotel in Knowsley with 180-plus asylum seekers. I won’t talk about that in detail because I had an urgent question on it a few weeks ago. But what I will say is since then the situation has deteriorated to the extent that some of the refugees have been verbally abused in the street, and others have been assaulted.
"And they have fled because the countries they come from were unsafe, only to find themselves in an unsafe position in this country. And I think we should all be ashamed. It’s not just happening in Knowsley, it’s happening all over the country."
Altogether, 15 people were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and a teenager was charged with assaulting an emergency worker. Jared Skeete, 19, of Irwell Close, Aigburth was jailed after pleading guilty to violent disorder at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, April 17.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy previously said the protest was fuelled by "misinformation" circulated on social media about an incident earlier in that week.
Detectives investigating reports of a man making inappropriate advances towards a teenage girl arrested a man, before later releasing him with no further action.
The Guardian approached the Home Office for comment on their report.
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