An anti-migration protest outside a hotel housing asylum-seekers in northwest England turned violent and resulted in the arrests of 15 people, local police said Saturday.

The Merseyside Police department said a police officer and two civilians sustained minor injuries during the disturbance on Friday night in Knowsley, a village located 13.5 kilometers (8.4 miles) from the city of Liverpool.

The police force said some protesters threw objects and set a police van on fire. The people arrested, who ranged in age from 13 to 54, were detained “following violent disorder.”

Huge mobilisation of far-right protestors outside a hotel for asylum-seekers in Knowsley, just outside of Liverpool. They've now set fire to a police van.

This was taken in the last hour: pic.twitter.com/HDItBlnnVY

— Benny Hunter (@BennnyH) February 10, 2023

“A number of individuals who turned up at the Suites Hotel last night were intent on using a planned protest to carry out violent and despicable behavior,” Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said. {snip}

Speculation on social media about a man accused of making inappropriate advances toward a teenage girl in a nearby town might have triggered the demonstration outside the hotel, Kennedy said. The man in his 20s was arrested elsewhere in England on Thursday “on suspicion of a public order offense” but later released on the advice of child protective services, she said.

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