Welcome back to Altrincham,” the video begins, as the woman holding the phone scans the courtyard in front of the Cresta Court Hotel near Manchester.
It’s a market town, in an affluent area with Premier League footballers living nearby. The hotel itself has hosted hen parties and businesspeople.
Of late, it’s attracted a different kind to its doors: anti-migrant activists, who are coming to the Cresta Court because of the asylum seekers now housed inside.
“It’s a persistent thing,” said local anti-racism campaigner Mark Krantz, referring to people turning up to video the hotel. “The lead security staff member told me it was almost every day that they have hostile individuals coming down.”
The hotel, which opened for asylum seekers at the end of October last year, has been the subject of intense debate in the local area, as well as a petition against its use brought by Conservative councillors.
While small peaceful protests and counterprotests outside of the hotel have become a regular occurrence, so too have visits from far-right and anti-migrant groups.
Britain First has made a number of visits since the hotel opened, with co-leader Ashlea Simon filming a confrontation with security staff. Party activists also canvassed the local area with flyers against the people seeking asylum living there.
Marcus North, a researcher at the advocacy group Hope not Hate, explained that anti-immigrant activists have been turning up outside asylum seeker accommodation to film for years.
But the crackdown following the summer riots – which sprang from misinformation spread after teenager Axel Rudakabana’s murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift dance class in July – put a pause on “migrant hunting” activity.
An estimated 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place across 27 towns and cities in the UK, with many targeting mosques or hotels housing asylum seekers.
Violence erupted at a Holiday Inn in Newton Heath, Manchester, where it was reported asylum seekers were staying, with rocks and bottles being thrown at police.
The filming has now started up again. Mr North described it as people turning up “with a camera in order to film and harass residents and staff, and bait security, staff or residents into a confrontation for social media engagement”.
In one video filmed at the end of last year, which has over 110,000 views on YouTube, a local videographer confronts several asylum seekers who live in the hotel and quizzes them about whether they are paying for the accommodation.
Maria, from refugee charity Care4Calais which has been supporting the asylum seekers at the hotel, said while some local residents are certainly angry, she believes right-wing agitators are now coming in from outside the area.
“A lot of people who live around there are really generous and supportive, but there is this nucleus of people,” she explained. “They have managed to develop a level of anxiety in people who are not so actively engaging with news all the time, and that is a concern.”
Maria, who didn’t want to give her last name for safety reasons, said an “unpleasant sort of atmosphere surrounds when the lads [asylum seekers] go out, and they receive quite a lot of hostility”.
She said that she has been to the hotel about eight times to deliver donations, and on about half of these occasions there had been someone outside filming. She said people had taken pictures of volunteers’ cars and some helpers were scared of going to the hotel on their own because of the presence of the anti-migrant activists.
Anti-migrant activists filming outside the hotel have also seized on a letter purported to be from a local school, Altrincham College, warning parents about “attempted child abductions”, which has been shared on social media. The letter did not mention any connection to the asylum hotel.
One woman told her YouTube viewers she was visiting the hotel because of letters sent home to local parents about “certain people standing outside the school”.
Another man filmed a local protest outside the hotel, and uploaded a clip last week which referred to “recent abductions outside local schools”. He claimed to a YouTuber that a “disproportionate amount of people from these communities are doing sexual and violent crimes” and that the asylum seekers were “fighting-age males”.
The police have looked into all reports of “suspicious men” outside local schools and found there was no substance to them.
They investigated a photo of three Asian males which was circulating on social media, and found it was unrelated to both the schools and the asylum hotel. They said there had been no attempts at child abduction.
Detective Superintendent Alicia Smith, Trafford’s lead for vulnerability, issued a comment last Thursday saying they had investigated swiftly and engaged with the community. “We would like to remind members of the public to avoid spreading information online that may not be true,” she added.
Mr Krantz said his group Stand Up to Racism had been to Altrincham multiple times, to make it clear that “refugees are welcome and there is no place for hatred”.
He said: “We handed out leaflets explaining that Britain First had been down and explaining that we would not allow a repeat of the racism pogroms against refugees in hotels that happened last summer, including in Manchester where two refugee hotels were attacked.”
Geraldine Coggins, Green party councillor for Altrincham, said: “This sort of intimidating behaviour and the disinformation we’ve seen alongside it has no place in our town. Fortunately, we have been heartened by the inclusion, empathy and compassion that so many residents have shown.”
She added they don’t want to see anyone housed in hotels for long periods of time.
A spokesperson for Serco, which runs the hotel, said: “The safety of our staff and the asylum seekers that we are accommodating is always our highest priority and we keep the security situation under constant review in close cooperation with the police.”
Nathan Evans, Tory councillor for Hale Barns and Timperley South, said residents and local businesses agreed that the hotel should not be in the area. He said that the hotel had previously been used for hen parties, by people in town for business, or to watch the football – all customers who spent money in the local area.
“There has been quite an impact on footfall in the area; on the restaurants, chip shops, and coffee shops,” he added.
Mr Evans said the Tory councillors had written to home secretary Yvette Cooper to raise their concerns, and have been lobbying ministers and shadow ministers to get attention on the issue.
“We feel that is the route to tackle it, not standing outside with placards,” he explained. “That just makes people feel uncomfortable and probably doesn’t achieve an awful lot.”
Cllr Evans added the school letter had made people worried. “I did see that letter, and it eventually went far and wide. There were WhatsApp groups sending messages around from the local schools because people are just worried.
“That should not be necessary because up until six months ago, we had a perfectly safe and normal environment for kids to walk to school without parents feeling worried in any way. That has changed.”
He explained that because people are already on alert over the hotel “anything that might be innocent sparks concerns”.
“Before you know it it’s gone up and it’s all over the place,” Cllr Evans said.
