Protesters outside Portsmouth hotel mistake Pakistan U19 cricket team for asylum seekers

Police officers at Eastney beach, Portsmouth, where hundreds of protesters gathered on Sunday, leaving tensions high in the Hampshire city. Photograph: PA

A group of masked agitators gathered outside a four-star hotel in Portsmouth after reports a group of asylum seekers had been taken there, when it was in fact Pakistan’s under-19 cricket team on a tour.

George Madgwick, a Reform councillor called to the hotel to mediate between staff and the assembled crowd, said it was a “massively unfortunate incident”.