Crowborough residents have unleashed their rage on GB News over Labour’s plans to house 600 migrants in a local army camp.
Thousands of protesters descended on the leafy Sussex town on Sunday to protest the controversial move against which many locals have rebuked.
Protest organisers reported that around 3,000 residents took part today, marking the third consecutive Sunday of demonstrations against proposals to accommodate asylum seekers at the local military facility – even in the pouring rain.
On the ground, GB News Reporter Isobel Feculak spoke to locals, who expressed fears over the future for their families if the plans were to go ahead.
One protester said: “The concern is we don’t know who they are. We don’t know where they’re from, what their background is.
“And that poses, as I say, a security risk to people in the area.”
A second local echoed the first’s worries over what the plans would mean for their families, including “the safety of the village, women, children and elderly”.
“I think the majority of us think if they were contained, they need to go somewhere. But they’ve got freedom to wander.”
Locals lamented over what the plans would mean for the safety of the community
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GB NEWS
A third simply declared they were angry, adding: “We don’t want this on our doorstep.
“I’m marching for my grandchildren and my great grandchildren. I don’t want to have them in fear that they can’t walk down the street in case they get attacked.”
Concerns over asylum seekers being housed in disused army barracks and RAF bases have spiked after the Government announced its plans to end the use of asylum hotels and place 900 migrants in East Sussex and Inverness instead.
By the end of November, Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough army training camp will be home to 900 migrant men.
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As a result, Crowborough residents have flocked to the streets of their rural town to protest the move, brandishing signs emblazoned with slogans such as “stop rewarding, start deporting”.
Today, two separate processions departed from different points in the Sussex town before merging in the centre and proceeding to a rally venue.
In a symbolic gesture, 600 participants donned white shirts with numbered badges to represent the exact number of asylum seekers the Home Office intends to relocate to Crowborough Army Camp.
Reporting from the protest, Isobel commented: “A lot of strong feelings there. And I was told that a lot of the anger they felt came from the lack of consultation had with the community.
“A community who has taken matters into their own hands in some ways with a new Crowborough Grassroots Residents group raising over £35,000 for legal fees against the Home Office.
Isobel reported that the group had delivered a letter to the Home Office “to which the Home Office said that no decision has been made”.
Other concerns have been raised about the decision’s potential impact on local services, although a GP is said to stay on site for the “service users”.
“The residents again have taken some security matters into their own hands, with a new WhatsApp group has been set up called Crowborough Fast Reaction Patrol in readiness for the expected arrival of these asylum seekers,” Isobel added.
“The people here today have said that they will not stop until their voices are heard.”