A second police force has been accused of escorting pro-migration protesters towards a migrant hotel.
Officers from Hampshire Constabulary were filmed walking alongside activists to a hotel suspected of hosting asylum seekers in Aldershot back in May.
It comes after Essex Police faced criticism when similar footage showed officers escorting counter-protesters to a migrant hotel in Epping earlier this month.
In the footage from Hampshire, protesters are seen walking towards the hotel while speaking to a police officer.
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Footage from May shows the group being taken to the hotel
Commenting on the Aldershot footage, former Tory Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Telegraph: “It is simply not the police’s job to facilitate protest. It is their job to make sure there is peace on the streets.
“If you come to counter protests you’re asking for trouble, and it’s not the police’s job to facilitate that. By doing so, they run the risk of bringing people there who are out to cause trouble. It makes no sense at all.”
Meanwhile, vice chairman of Aldershot’s Reform UK branch, Trevor Lloyd-Jones, said: “Hampshire police are fair and if they have intelligence that from a local policing point of view they need to escort these chaps, that’s fine, I think that’s understandable.
“But people do get upset about it because you imagine there are mums and dads, and then some young blokes are coming from outside [Aldershot] and people feel that part is unfair.”
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A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “Protests regularly take place on an area of land which backs directly onto a busy A road, running between Aldershot and Farnborough.
“Therefore, there is only one direction for people attending from Aldershot town centre or the nearby housing estate to arrive.Officers engage with those attending, and ensure they know where they can safely protest both in advance and on the day.
“Policing protests requires us to balance the rights of those lawfully protesting and the rights of others to go about their lives without being subject to unacceptable disruption, whilst keeping the public safe.
“Protests organised by Rushmoor People First and attended by counter-protesters this year have all concluded with no disorder, thanks to proactive engagement with police by protest organisers and the decisions made by officers on the ground to safely facilitate attending groups.”
Dozens of people are gathered in Epping, Essex, in the latest protest in the town. Some of the protesters could be seen wearing English and Union flags draped over their backs as they stood behind fencing erected outside the hotel.
A large billboard set up behind the fencing also showed English flags with the words Protect Our Kids.
The group had earlier walked through the town’s high street and gathered outside Epping Forest District Council, before being escorted back to the hotel by large numbers of Essex Police officers.
One person has been arrested for wearing a face covering, the force said. It comes after 16 people were arrested following a similar protest outside the migrant hotel last week.