A Syrian national living at the Bell Hotel in Epping has been remanded in custody after he allegedly sexually assaulted another man.
Mohammed Sharwarq appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after he was charged with one count of sexual assault on a male contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
He was also charged with four counts of assault by beating and two counts of common assault.
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The 32-year-old man was arrested by police and questioned before being charged.
Police say the Syrian national resides at The Bell Hotel in Epping.
The alleged offences are said to have taken place between July 25 and August 12.
He is alleged to have kissed a man on the neck and has entered a not guilty plea to the sexual assault.
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|Court artist sketching of Mohammed Sharwarq
Sharwarq is also alleged to have punched a man in the face, thrown an object at a man, slapped a third man to the face and attempted to punch a fourth.
Essex Police said the man, who was assisted by an Arabic interpreter in court, was arrested on Tuesday.
He was remanded in custody by District Court Judge Lynette Woodrow until his trial at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on September 30.
It comes after Epping Council applied for an injunction in court to stop migrants being placed in The Bell Hotel.
PA | Protesters gathered outside of The Bell Hotel
The area has been the subject of weeks of protests.
The High Court in London received documents on Tuesday from Epping Forest District Council which described "the clear risk of further escalating community tensions and urgency of the need for the present situation to be brought under control".
The council also warned the action of placing asylum seekers in The Bell is "not akin to use as a hotel, and accordingly not a permitted use for planning purposes".
The council is requesting a ban to be put in place after 14 days if an injunction is granted.
At a council meeting on July 24, councillors voted unanimously to call on the Home Office to close the hotel with immediate effect.
A phased closure of another facility in North Weald Bassett has also been called for by the authority.
Chris Whitbread, the council leader, local MPs, Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst, and the leader of Essex County Council all called on the Home Secretary to act.
Last month, Hirst wrote a letter to Yvette Cooper describing the hotel as "unsuitable" for housing migrants, and warned the presence of the asylum seekers was "clearly cresting community tension".
Whitbread said: "The current situation cannot go on. If the Bell Hotel was a nightclub, we could have closed it down long ago.
"So far as the council is aware, there is no criminal record checking of individuals who might only have been in the country a matter of days before being housed at the hotel.
"There are five schools and a residential care home within the vicinity of the hotel.
"The use by the Home Office of the premises for asylum seekers poses a clear risk of further escalating community tensions already at a high, and the risk of irreparable harm to the local community."