Angry crowd blocks entrance to council meeting over asylum seeker plans
Attendees disrupted as protesters voice concerns
Police were forced to block entrances to a council meeting as a mob of angry locals tried to force their way in to vent their anger over plans to house asylum seekers at a nearby military base.
The chaotic scenes erupted in Thetford amid increasing tensions in the town over the Home Office’s bid to move more than 1,000 refugees to RAF Barnham.
An extended session of Tuesday’s scheduled Thetford Town Council meeting had been arranged for the public to air concerns over the scheme and around 250 locals descended on Carnegie Hall to have their say.
Three hours earlier, the event had been moved to the larger venue from the smaller Guildhall to allow more people to attend.
However, only around 120 people were allowed into the building before all the spaces were taken, leaving an even larger number outside and keen to get in.
In addition to private security staff hired by the council, seven police officers were on duty outside the building to maintain order and as tempers frayed they were forced to intervene on several occasions to stop members of the public trying to force their way in.
The extraordinary scenes came only days after the previous Thetford Town Council meeting ended in disorder amid growing public anger over the RAF Barnham scheme.
On that occasion, councillors were kept inside for their own safety and Terry Jermy, the local Labour MP and a member of the council, was pursued through the town centre by people demanding answers over the plans.
Two members of the public have been arrested over that incident on suspicion of harassment and public order offences.
Mr Jermy was not present at the most recent meeting as he was in Parliament.
Inside Carnegie Hall for Tuesday’s meeting, tensions were running almost as high as they were outside as locals raised their concerns for 45 minutes of public questions.
Amid the noise from the crowd still trying to get in, questions from the public prompted tears, applause and shouting in a frenzied atmosphere.
One woman, welling up as she spoke into the microphone, said: “I don’t want to be scared in my own home town. When I walk my dog at 6am, what do I have to carry to keep myself safe?”
As heated exchanges continued, councillors repeatedly called for the public to let them answer without interruption.
They said they had been kept in the dark just like the locals, and were still yet to receive any information from the Home Office.
They agreed to send a letter to the government setting out their concerns.
Matthew Stirrup, a Labour councillor on the 18-strong authority, said: “We also live here, it’s our home as well, and I absolutely assure you we are taking it seriously.”
Another councillor said that the lack of communication from the Home Office about the plan to move migrants in was both “annoying and disrespectful”.
Some who lived near the site told the meeting they had watched black buses coming and going through the gates, and demanded to know what was going on.
Marcus Pearcey, a prominent Norfolk businessman who is standing as an independent candidate in the police and crime commissioner election on July 16, watched from the front row.
He said he was there to “hear the concerns of the community of Thetford”.
As the discussion about Barnham ended, the mayor asked people to stay for an announcement, with a run-of-the-mill full council agenda still to be discussed.
But members of the audience made to leave, only to be briefly held inside after being asked to sign out as they had signed in.
As they waited, many chanted: “Open the door!”
As that unfolded, those still outside made another attempt to get in, this time through a side door, unaware that the Barnham session had ended.
The seven police officers were dragged back into the fray, standing in the doorway to block the crowd, as teenagers arrived on bicycles to film the scenes on their phones.
After 15 minutes of unrest, Vic Peters, the town’s mayor, came out to address a crowd of around 30 still gathered outside.
He told them the meeting was over, and police stepped forward to usher away those still trying to get, bringing a chaotic evening – one of Norfolk’s most unruly council sessions in recent memory – to a close.
The scenes mark the latest flashpoint in ongoing public outrage over the plans for RAF Barnham.
The Home Office is currently seeking planning permission to use the base, which is around a mile from the town just over the Suffolk border.
Over the weekend, around 200 people gathered at a protest outside its gates, joined by county councillors including Scott Hussey, a Reform cabinet member.
He had wanted to attend Tuesday’s meeting but was among those who were not able to get in.
Speaking afterwards, he questioned why the town council had limited entry, given that online details put the Carnegie’s capacity at 300.
He also rounded on Mr Jermy for not attending.
“People here were already fed up with the town council after the last time, when they weren’t even allowed to ask questions. This isn’t good enough,” he said.
“The local MP – who promised to stand down as a town councillor but never did – didn’t bother to show up, and he wasn’t at Sunday’s protest either.
“He needs to stop hiding, stop playing the victim, and start engaging with all his constituents.
“The most police officers I ever see together in Thetford are at Thetford Town Council meetings.
“I hardly see them anywhere else. At one point I counted seven officers guarding a side door to keep residents out.
“I only hope we get that kind of robust police presence around the camp and on the streets of Thetford once we’ve got more than a thousand migrants being bussed in by the Home Office for day trips. A lot of residents told me they don’t share that confidence.”
Mr Jermy has said he supports the government’s policy of moving asylum seekers from hotels to military sites but says there are no suitable venues near Thetford and has previously expressed concern over the use of Barnham.
A police spokesman said: “Police attended the meeting following concerns raised about the numbers attending.
“The doors to the meeting were closed at around 6.45pm when numbers met capacity and approximately 50 to 60 people remained outside in Cage Lane.”