LONDON: The UK government on Thursday (Aug 28) urged a court docket to elevate a ban on housing asylum seekers at a protest-hit lodge, warning the injunction risked setting a precedent that would undermine its obligation to accommodate susceptible migrants.
The Court docket of Enchantment is listening to the federal government’s problem to a Excessive Court docket ruling issued earlier this month, which gave authorities till Sep 12 to take away asylum seekers from the Bell Lodge in Epping, northeast London.
The case has dealt a political and logistical blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour authorities, with greater than 32,000 asylum seekers already housed in inns throughout Britain on the finish of March.
FLASHPOINT HOTEL
The Bell Lodge turned a flashpoint in July when protests broke out after an Ethiopian asylum seeker staying there was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old woman. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has denied the costs.
Some protests turned violent and unfold to different elements of the nation, prompting Epping Forest district council to sue the House Workplace, arguing the location posed a threat to public security and breached planning legal guidelines.
The House Workplace and lodge proprietor Somani Motels countered that the Bell had beforehand hosted migrants and that the protests had been unrelated to planning points.
