Pakistan U-19 team hotel draws UK anti-migrant protest

Anti-immigration demonstrators gathered outside a hotel in southern England where Pakistan's Under-19 cricket team were staying after mistaking them for asylum seekers, British media reported Wednesday.

The incident happened on Tuesday evening at a Marriott Hotel in Cosham, a northern suburb of Portsmouth, after online reports about a coach carrying young Asian men drew protesters to the venue, according to media reports.

The Guardian said a councillor from the anti-immigration party Reform UK went to the scene and helped disperse the crowd after confirming the men were members of Pakistan's teenage cricket team.

Hampshire Police said officers were notified that a group of people were starting to gather near the hotel. A police spokesman said officers spoke to members of the public who had concerns about a coach seen in the area and explained that their concerns were not correct.

The spokesman said around 30 people dispersed a short time later and no offences were identified.

The incident came about 48 hours after protesters disrupted the disembarkation of scores of migrants near Portsmouth and confronted police. Immigration and small-boat crossings from mainland Europe have sparked repeated protests in Britain in recent years, some of them violent.

Michael Bradley, a national organiser from Stand Up To Racism, condemned the hotel incident and said it showed where the scapegoating of refugees and migrants could lead.