A clash broke out last night between anti-migration protesters, anti-racism demonstrators and police outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in a leafy corner of Essex.
Tensions boiled over in Epping last night with videos circulating on social media appearing to show a police van hitting protesters and demonstrators setting off fireworks.
The protest comes after an Ethiopian asylum seeker, who was believed to have been housed at the hotel, appeared in Chelmsford Magistrates' Court accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl just days after arriving in the UK.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denied trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl near a fish and chip shop in the town centre.
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|The riot broke out outside the Essex hotel
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|Police gather outside the Epping migrant hotel
Kebatu is reported to have arrived in Britain eight days before the alleged assault. He has denied the offences and has been remanded in custody before a two-day trial next month.
Chief Superintendent at Essex Police Simon Anslow said: "Disruption and offending is never an appropriate response, no matter the strength of feeling in this case, and on this issue.
"People protesting peacefully, lawfully and responsibly cause us, and the wider public, no concern.
"However, we can never, and will never, tolerate criminal behaviour of any sort and anyone identified as committing crime will be dealt with robustly."
WATCH: Adam Brooks speaks from anti-migration protest in Epping
Essex Police also confirmed that an officer sustained a minor neck injury, a protester was arrested for affray and a number of suspects have been identified for damaging police vehicles.
Conservative leader of Epping Forest District Council Chris Whitbread has previously called for an end to a hotel in the area being used to house asylum seekers.
He described placing "vulnerable individuals from a wide range of cultural backgrounds into an unsupervised setting in the centre of a small town, without the proper infrastructure, support, or services" as "both reckless and unacceptable."
Local Epping MP Dr Neil Hudson and neighbouring Brentwood MP Alex Burghart issued a joint statement calling the situation "increasingly alarming and distressing."
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|An image of a banner used at the protest
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|Protesters gathered outside the hotel last night
Weyman Bennett, from the Stand Up To Racism group who attended the rally, told the BBC: "Britain is a peaceful country in which people should be allowed to go about their business without being attacked."
The protest also comes as chief executive of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, demanded Labour speeds up its plans to end the use of asylum hotels.
He said had become a "flashpoint for tension in communities, cost billions to the taxpayer, and leave people trapped in limbo."
A Home Office spokesman said the Government had already taken action to ban foreign nationals who commit sexual offences from being granted asylum.