A fearful Crowborough resident has told GB News he is “genuinely scared” of 600 migrants being housed in a training camp just 500 yards from his home.
Speaking to National Reporter Jack Carson, Simon Brown said the decision by the Government will “change the fabric of the community” forever.
Mr Brown joined hundreds of residents, who took to the streets today to protest the decision by the Government.
Many held hand-made placards which read “protect our children” and “protect our community” as they marched through the streets.
Crowborough resident Simon Brown says he is ‘genuinely scared’ of hundreds of migrants being moved into his community
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GB NEWS
Expressing how his fears have evolved since he last spoke to GB News about the move, Mr Brown explained: “As a local resident, you are here in all of this process, and I think when we spoke about 10 days ago the first question you asked me was, how did I feel, and I said ‘very worried’.
“And I have to say, from what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen over the last 10 days, I’ve gone from worried to scared. I’m genuinely, genuinely scared.”
Recalling a conversation he had with a resident of Copthorne, he added: “I spoke to a gentleman who had made his way from Copthorne, which is another town on the other side of Sussex, about an hour’s drive, and he lives very close to a migrant hotel where there were 150 migrants.
“And he was telling me stories which just literally, genuinely scared me. And we’re talking about 600 young men literally living a couple of hundred yards down the road.”
Crowborough residents are protesting the housing of 600 asylum seekers in their town
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GB NEWS
Declaring that the fear among the locals is “not racist”, Mr Brown made clear: “Having the meeting in the town hall, the general feeling was scared, scared people. This is not political, this is not racist.
“It’s going to tear the community apart, and it already has. You could see that in the demonstration this morning, it’s going to change the fabric of the community.”
Describing the “sleepiness” of the town currently, the Crowborough resident said: “It’s a sleepy Sussex town, we have no police presence here, we haven’t had it for years.
“And we saw more police here today than we’ve seen in the last five years. So, yeah, I am really, really scared.”
Mr Brown told GB News that the decision will ‘change the fabric of their community’
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GB NEWS
As Jack argued that the move is “temporary accommodation”, Mr Brown hit back that it most likely “will become permanent” after the year is up.
He concluded: “We’ve lost trust in the local Government. If it was a temporary situation, in 12 months time it was all going to be taken away, we could possibly live with that. But we know that’s not going to be the case.
“It’s going to be temporary to start, and everything that we’ve heard is there are going to be movements to make it a permanent processing centre, and that’s an incredibly sad situation that we’re in for the local community.
“There’s going to be 600-odd young men with nothing to do with no money, and we’ve got to take things into our own hands.
“If we don’t, we’re at risk of either having our property damaged or being physically damaged, and we’ve got to do something about it ourselves.”
In a statement, a spokesman for the Home Office said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels. This Government will close every asylum hotel.
“Work is well underway, with more suitable sides being brought forward to ease pressure on communities.
“We are working closely with local authorities, property partners and across Government so that we can accelerate delivery.”