Protestors gather outside 'asylum' hotel

The hotel could hold 100 asylum seekers

About 150 people have staged a demonstration outside a Kent hotel earmarked as the site of an asylum seeker induction centre.

Waving placards and chanting, they marched through the centre of Sittingbourne in protest at the plans for the Coniston Hotel.

The hotel could hold around 100 asylum seekers if the government goes ahead with proposals announced earlier this month.

Wednesday would have been the day the first asylum seekers arrived at the hotel, but the Home Office put plans on hold last week to allow for a period of public consultation with local residents.

I think people are quite upset that it is our only hotel and it is being taken away from us

Sandra Kennett, protester

Despite the postponement, opponents of the scheme were keen to express their displeasure at the plans.

But they distanced themselves from right-wing groups who had demonstrated in Sittingbourne on Sunday.

They said their main concern was not the arrival of asylum seekers, but the loss of a major hotel.

Second protest

Sandra Kennett, who lives less than 100 yards from the hotel said: "I think a lot of the ill feeling is about the hotel itself.

"It used to hold weddings and a lot of other things and local people down the road have always used it as a place to eat and drink.

"I think people are quite upset that it is our only hotel and it is being taken away from us."

A second protest is planned for Wednesday evening.