Original title: Asylum protests putting police under chronic pressure, chief says
Asylum protests putting police under chronic pressure, chief says Police say there have been 3,081 protests between the start of June and 25 August, compared with 2,942 last summer and 928 in 2023. Senior officers are concerned about political and business leaders commenting on social media, sometimes spreading misinformation, though Mr Stephens didn’t give names. Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told the BBC people in leadership positions in the UK needed to think about how to “reduce and diffuse tension and not sow division”. Protests over the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers have put police forces under “chronic pressure” when combined with other duties this summer, a senior police chief has said. The number has been pushed up by campaigns against asylum hotels, sometimes attended by hundreds of protestors on both sides of the debate. Mr Stephens said it was everybody’s responsibility, including the police, to “set the tone”, but