Dozens of police officers could be seen swarming the scene after protesters stormed the grounds of a hotel that has been controversially earmarked for 240 asylum seekers.
A large police presence remains outside the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli, Wales, after the decision to turn the 200-bed four-star hotel into an asylum facility sparked outrage within the local community.
Just last week, motorcyclists and protesters stormed the hotel grounds in a tense standoff with security staff.
This was swiftly followed by a large increase in security and last night onlookers saw a large police presence and riot vans in order to help three cars containing guards into the grounds, Wales Online reported.
A video from the scene showed angry locals jeering as a crowd gathered outside amidst a sea of police in high-vis vests.
The video, which was captioned “looks like all of Wales police was in attendance for new security going into The Stradley Park Hotel”, has been viewed over 250 thousand times.
Shared on TikTok, the video shows people shouting “fighting your own people” and a sarcastic “well done boys” amidst noisy police sirens.
A large group of furious locals was ushered to the side as a female officer told the rowdy crowd: “Can you stand back, this car needs to come through.”
The chaotic security increase on Wednesday comes as the owners of the hotel secured a temporary High Court injunction limiting the activities of protesters objecting to the plans.
Gryphon Leisure, which owns the hotel, asked a judge in London to impose an “urgent interim injunction” in a bid to prevent trespass and obstruction at the property.
Judge Roger ter Haar KC concluded at a hearing on Thursday that there was a “very strong chance” the hotel would not be able to “exercise its own property rights” and granted the injunction until late January next year.
The hotel owner’s injunction bid was adjourned by the judge earlier this week because he wanted people who had emailed him to be able to attend court and make submissions.
On Thursday, a group of Furnace residents who live close to the hotel shared their concerns over the impact of the protests and the potential arrival of asylum seekers.
Tracey Hallett, a carer whose grandmother had previously owned the hotel, said the majority of protesters were “peaceful” but claimed that “hard right groups had caused unrest”.
As a result of the protests and the proposed new use of the hotel, she had stopped using her nearby home for respite care, the court heard.
