ANTI-IMMIGRATION protesters stormed a York hotel and filmed asylum seekers who were taking refuge there, it has emerged.

The incident has come to light through a ‘lessons learnt’ report which looks at York’s experience of housing asylum seekers in the Mercure York Fairfield Manor Hotel from June 2020 to June 2021.

Hotels in cities across the country were asked by the Home Office to house asylum seekers due to Covid pressures.

The hotel, on the A19 at Skelton, sheltered 90 male asylum seekers during this period, overseen by housing and social care producer, Mears.

The council report stated: “Anti-migration protesters entered and filmed the hotel and residents of which shortly after their arrival. The initial security measures put in place were not adequate and were improved after the incident.”

The report noted that changes in senior management at Mears and the hotel led to communication issues, particularly as Mercure’s new manager “did not have the same keen interest in the project as their predecessor".

“Due to this they stopped attending the weekly multi-agency meeting which in turn made communication and the dispersal of key information between Mears and Mercure more difficult and less frequent,” the report added.

Weak wifi signal at the hotel was also an issue and the report said Mercure and Mears could have done more to remedy the issue.

The report said: “It became apparent that the lack of internet connection was having a negative impact on the resident’s mental wellbeing as a connection was crucial to allow them to learn and communicate with friends and family outside of the hotel.”

Mears also confiscated a number of donated items, leading to “confusion and complaints from residents”, but the focus groups they held for residents were praised in the report.

The report also highlighted York residents’ donations, low Covid rates among the men, and council-led English lessons and local healthcare provided to the asylum seekers as positives to take from the project.

The council’s executive member for culture, leisure and communities, Cllr Darryl Smalley, said: “I think it is a really good report – warts and all in terms of what went well and what went less well. 

“Despite the best efforts from local authority partners, charities, Migration Yorkshire and others, there were still things that I think we felt were either too slow or or never happened at all.

“And while the government again has reiterated its commitment to stop using hotels, they’ve said that previous to our hotel even opening, so [I won’t] hold my breath in terms of how long it does actually take for them to stop using hotels as initial accommodation sites.”

Speaking later about the government’s “Guantanamo-on-Ouse” plans to convert RAF Linton-on-Ouse into an asylum seeker processing centre, Cllr Smalley said: “It has been shown time and time again that it is best for vulnerable asylum seekers to live within our communities. 

“York’s recent experience of the Home Office of using a local hotel to house asylum seekers is the clearest evidence that we need a better, more integrated and humane approach.”

A Mears spokesperson said: “Although Mears were not involved in drafting York Council’s report into the first year of using the Mecure Hotel for asylum accommodation, we are pleased that it highlights the successes of multi-agency working and regular meetings that ensured Mears service users had access to regular health check-ups and English classes.

“Mears recognises the challenges identified in the report. As it did across the regions it managed asylum accommodation during Covid, Mears learnt from these challenges and continues to make changes that improve its service.”

A spokesperson for the hotel said: “We acknowledge the findings of this report and will review fully to apply learnings for any future contracts.”