Making the case for compassion

On Friday last week, protests were held at 14 locations up and down the country outside asylum hotels, with Chichester being one of the chosen sites. I spent much of Friday talking to the police to ensure that the protest was managed safely and that those occupying the hotel were supported during the event. It is hard for the police to gauge turnout ahead of these events, especially when they are coordinated with other protests along the South Coast and there is often the added element of a counter-protest. 

Jess in Parliament

I am pleased that the protest passed without incident and dwindled quickly. 

This round of protests was caused, in part, by the reported incident of two women being assaulted by a man staying in an asylum hotel in Epping. Violence against women and girls is always abhorrent, whoever the perpetrator, and I am pleased to work closely with local charities who support women who have experienced violence, physical and sexual, or as victims of domestic abuse. 

The conversation around immigration is certainly one that we should be having as a country, and I know there are legitimate concerns around the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, about the huge increase in boats crossing the Channel over the last five years, and about our immigration policies as a whole. Having sensible, informed conversations about these topics is important, and we shouldn’t shy away from them, even when the debate has become toxic and divided by the rise of far-right political parties. 

What should not be up for debate, however, is whether those who are here in the UK deserve to be treated with compassion and respect, because we should afford that courtesy to everybody. 

As a Liberal Democrat, I support people’s right to peacefully protest, and it’s an important part of our democracy, but I wonder if those protesting on Friday night can see the irony. They are claiming they are there to end violence against women and girls, while protesting in front of a hotel that houses mostly families, including women and girls, who came to this country because they believed they could live safely and without fear. 

So I would gently suggest to those who chose to wave flags and placards outside a hotel full of vulnerable women that there may be a better use of their time on a Friday night, such as raising much-needed funds for local charities like My Sister’s House, Lifecentre and Sanctuary Chichester.