Thousands of protesters gathered in Crowborough this morning to oppose migrants being moved into the town’s former army camp.
Crowds chanted ‘Keir Starmer’s traitor’ and marched along the roads in the largest demonstration yet since 27 asylum seekers were moved into the barracks under the cover of darkness on Thursday morning.
Three people were arrested yesterday after a vehicle was blocked from leaving the site, which is set to house more than 500 males who will be free to come and go.
Protesters gathered at the gates of the camp in the East Sussex town at around 10am before making their way into the centre.
They waved hundreds of flags, including Union Jacks, St George’s Crosses and the flag of Sussex, and also chanted ‘Who’s streets? Our streets.’
There were signs bearing messages such as ‘We’ve been ignored and neglected so we’re now at risk’.
A heavily decorated van at the centre of proceedings had ‘Stop the boats’ and ‘Crowborough says no’ emblazoned on it.
Some locals handed out rape alarms and defensive sprays for ‘protection’.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Crowborough this morning to oppose asylum seekers being housed in the town’s old army camp
Demonstrators waved hundreds of flags including Union Jacks, St George’s Crosses and the flag of Sussex
The march moved into the town after setting off from outside the gates of the camp
The local Sussex Weald branch of Reform wrote: ‘Wow! It’s mental at Crowborough training camp this morning, still loads turning up! Let’s be heard!’
Residents have said they live in a ‘state of complete fear and terror’ now that the migrants have begun moving in.
Crowborough resident Dennis Corby, 75, supports the protest and fears for the safety of the town.
He said: ‘The trouble is it’s going to wind the migrants up. I could see them retaliating.’
Sarah Rogers, 34, said she was now ‘very scared’.
The mother-of-two said: ‘We’re living in a state of complete fear and terror. It’s appalling. We have not slept. It’s awful.
‘They have been seen hanging around the town already. I can’t stand it. Already many people are on about moving.’
A mother-of-three who helped organise the protest said: ‘I won’t let my children out alone in the town. They’re scared. We all are. They are not welcome here.
‘It’s going to cause hell.’
Locals aired vehement opposition to plans to house more than 500 asylum seekers in the barracks
The crowd gathered outside the gates of the camp and made its way into the centre of town
One car had a sticker in support of President Trump
While most protestors were local, some had come from further afield.
Sean Cheney, 57, drove from Ashford in Kent to support the protests.
His car had been decorated with stickers, including a picture of Donald Trump and ‘Save our kids’ on the rear bumper.
He said: ‘I want to give Crowborough all the support I can.’
The first migrants were driven into the Crowborough Army Camp at around 3:30am on Thursday morning.
A major security operation is in force to keep the peace, which includes drones flying overhead.
The Home Office has said the asylum seekers will be registered with a medic based inside the base, and will only use off-site services if they require additional treatment.
Officials said this would minimise the impact on local GP services, although it is certain to anger local residents struggling with a shortage of appointments.
A community Facebook page is full of complaints from locals about the issue, with one woman how local GPs were ‘all having problems with having appointments’.
A 16-seater minivan driven into a migrant camp in Crowborough in the early hours of Thursday morning
A group of men were seen walking into the own lecture room at Crowborough Army Training Camp
Police officers stand outside Crowborough Training Camp on Thursday after the first group of migrants arrived
A second claimed she had been unable to see a doctor at her surgery for three months despite ‘calling at 8am’.
Figures suggest NHS Sussex comes seventh out of England’s 42 trusts for the number of patients waiting 28 days or more for a GP appointment.
The new asylum site has provoked a huge local backlash, and today a councillor claimed parents are pulling their children out of school as a bus route used by the pupils shares a stop with the base.
Andrew Wilson, who represents Crowborough East, said that because the asylum seekers will each stay at the site for between 70 to 90 days at a time, this amounts to almost 2,800 unknown individuals passing through the town in a 12-month period.
He said that with each man whose background is not known, that ‘increases the risk to local residents’.
Mr Wilson told the Mail: ‘There’s been a number of people who are deciding to take their children out of school because they’re worried they won’t be safe.
‘The camp has CCTV all over it, but when you get beyond the borders of it the cameras don’t cover everywhere.
‘I’m a father of two girls. As a parent, your responsibility first and foremost is to keep your children safe, and if people feel like the government haven’t provided enough information relating to security then parents are within their rights to take action.’
Local resident Karen Creed, 62, said earlier in the week: ‘My main concern is the fact that it’s all men. It’s not families.
‘We don’t know the background of any of them. I want to feel free to walk about in the town in which I live. It feels like the Government is playing with my freedom.’
‘We all feel totally hoodwinked. They brought people down here in the wee small hours, not expecting anybody to see.’
