Police drop charges against woman who unfurled Union Jack from Epping council building during migrant hotel protest

The 40-year-old was followed up the steps by police before being taken away.

Essex Police said Ms White, of Chigwell, was arrested on suspicion of two offences under the Public Order Act 1986 and later charged, stressing she had not been arrested for unfurling the flag.

A spokesman from the force said: "These matters were due to be heard at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, October 15, but they have now been withdrawn."

Responding to the decision, Ms White said her treatment had been "unjust."

She wrote on social media: "I have now received confirmation from the Crown Prosecution Service that there will be no further action taken against me due to insufficient evidence."

"The reason there is no evidence is simple: I did not commit a crime. This was an unlawful attempt to intimidate and silence ordinary people who dare to speak out. It is unacceptable that dissent is met with force and fear."

She continued: "I will not be silenced.

"I will continue to stand up, for our freedoms, for women, for children, and for this country.”

The Bell Hotel became the focal point of several protests and counter-protests in the summer after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Epping in July.

Epping Forest District Council’s bid to block the use of the Bell as accommodation for asylum seekers is to be heard at the High Court later today.

Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) is taking legal action against Somani Hotels over the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping, with the Home Office intervening in the case.

A High Court judge granted the council a temporary injunction earlier this year that would have stopped 138 asylum seekers from being housed there beyond September 12.

But this was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August, which found the decision to be "seriously flawed in principle."

The authority’s bid for a permanent injunction is now due to be heard across three days at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incident, was jailed for 12 months in September.

A second asylum seeker who was a resident at the hotel, Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, was also jailed for 16 weeks last month after admitting assaulting two fellow residents and two members of staff at the site.

Several others were also charged with offences related to demonstrations outside the hotel.

Following the Court of Appeal’s judgment, Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Government was committed to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also said that he "completely" gets people’s concerns about migration, adding: "When it comes to the asylum hotels, I want them emptied."

But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said after the ruling that Sir Keir "puts the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people."

She also urged Tory councils to proceed with legal action over the use of hotels as accommodation for asylum seekers in their areas.