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LONDON: The UK government vowed on Sunday to overhaul its asylum system after weekend protests broke out across the country at hotels housing migrants, with more planned.
The government said that it will establish a new independent body to hear appeals by failed applicants more quickly as it attempts to end the costly use of so-called asylum hotels, which have become the subject of discontent among a portion of the public.
The Labour government said on Friday it would appeal a court ruling blocking it from housing asylum seekers in a flashpoint hotel in southeast England.
The ruling triggered the announcement of a wave of protests and counter-protests outside hotels accommodating asylum seekers around the country.
Demonstrations under the “Abolish Asylum System” slogan were held on Saturday in British cities and towns including Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Perth and in central London.
Mounted police separated rival groups at the Bristol event, with officers scuffling with protesters.
“Our officers have dealt admirably with a really challenging situation,” said Keith Smith, from Avon and Somerset Police
“While there were moments of disturbance, we’re pleased to say the two protests have passed without significant incident,” he added.
Eleven people were arrested for various offenses including being drunk and disorderly, and assault at the Liverpool protest.


The latest wave of protests began outside a hotel in Epping, southeast England, after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Further events were planned for Sunday, and for Monday, which is a public holiday in the UK.
The latest official data showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March.
The government is battling to reduce the backlog of initial asylum claims and court delays over appeals, which it says is the biggest cause of pressure in the asylum accommodation system.
“We inherited an asylum system in complete chaos with a soaring backlog of asylum cases and a broken appeals system,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper in a press release on Sunday.
“We are determined to substantially reduce the number of people in the asylum system as part of our plan to end asylum hotels... we cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays in appeals,” she added.

BEIJING: US protectionism is undermining agricultural cooperation with China, Beijing’s ambassador to Washington said, warning that farmers should not bear the price of the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
“It goes without saying that protectionism is rampant, casting a shadow over China-US agricultural cooperation,” said Xie Feng, according to the transcript of a speech published by the Chinese embassy on Saturday.
Agriculture has emerged as a major point of contention between China and the US as the superpowers are locked in a tariff war launched by President Donald Trump.
China in March slapped levies of up to 15 percent on $21 billion worth of American agricultural and food products in retaliation for sweeping US tariffs. Washington and Beijing this month extended a truce for 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other’s goods.
US agricultural exports to China fell 53 percent in the first half of the year from the same period in 2024, with a 51 percent decline in soybeans, Xie said in the speech to a soybean industry event in Washington on Friday.
“American farmers, like their Chinese counterparts, are hardworking and humble,” Xie said. “Agriculture should not be hijacked by politics, and farmers should not be made to pay the price of a trade war.”
The envoy said agriculture is a promising area of cooperation and a “pillar of bilateral relations.” China has a comparative advantage in labor-intensive products, while the US excels in land-intensive bulk commodities through mechanized, large-scale production, he said.
Last month US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Washington would curb farmland purchases by “foreign adversaries,” including China.
The Department of Agriculture said it had fired 70 foreign contract researchers after a national security review intended to secure the US food supply from adversaries including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
Xie dismissed the US concerns. “Chinese investors hold less than 0.03 percent of US agricultural land, so where does the claim of ‘threatening US food security’ even come from,” he said, calling the US restrictions a “political manipulation.”
US soybean exporters risk missing out on billions of dollars worth of sales to China this year as trade talks drag on and buyers in the top oilseed importer lock in cargoes from Brazil for shipment during the key US marketing season, traders say.