������Ƶ

LONDON: A town on the outskirts of London was rocked by protesters who descended on a hotel housing asylum seekers for the second time in four days on Sunday night, amid anger about a migrant accused of sexual assault.

Police in the town of Epping said they arrested six people on Sunday, including four suspected of involvement in “violent disorder” during the previous demonstration on Thursday. Officers patrolled the area around the Bell Hotel throughout the night after issuing an order for the crowds to disperse.

Chanting “Save our kids” and “Send them home,” more than 100 demonstrators, some brandishing British flags, gathered outside the hotel Sunday evening. The protests escalated as night fell, with flares and projectiles thrown toward police vans blocking the entrance. Police escorted a counter-protester from the area after demonstrators surrounded her.

“Disappointingly we have seen yet another protest, which begun peacefully, escalate into mindless thuggery with individuals again hurting one of our officers and damaging a police vehicle,” Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow of the Essex Police said in a statement. “For anyone who thinks we will tolerate their thuggery – think again.”

The protests come amid escalating tensions over the rising number of asylum seekers who are being housed at government expense in hotels around the country. Those pressures flared into days of rioting last month in Northern Ireland after two teenagers were arrested on charges of sexual assault.

Violent anti-immigrant protests spread throughout the UK last summer after social media users spread misinformation about the identity of the person who attacked a dance class in the northwestern town of Southport, killing three young girls. The attacker was a 17-year-old who was born in the UK born in the UK to parents from Rwanda, not an asylum seeker as had been rumored.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned last year’s riots as “far-right thuggery” as police intervened to stop the violence and expedited the sentencing of those convicted of taking part.

Before Sunday’s protests in Epping, local police issued an order that allowed them to force demonstrators to remove face coverings. The later issued an order for the demonstrators to leave the area around the hotel. That dispersal order remained in effect until 4 a.m. Monday.

The demonstration came after eight police officers were injured on Thursday after a peaceful protest outside the hotel escalated into violence. Police blamed the violence on people from outside the community who “arrived at the scene intent on causing trouble.”

Four of those detained on Sunday were arrested in connection with events that happened during the initial protest, police said. A fifth was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a police car, while the sixth was arrested for being equipped to cause criminal damage.

The protests began after a 38-year-old asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault after allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. The man is being held without bail after he had his first court appearance on July 10. He denies the charges.

“We don’t take sides, we arrest criminals and we have a duty to ensure no-one is hurt — plain and simple,″ Anslow said. “I know the people of Essex know what we’re about so I know they won’t believe the rubbish circulating online that is designed to do nothing more than inflame tensions and trouble.’’

Epping Forest District Council, which provides local government services in the area, condemned the violence but said it had long opposed the central government’s decision to use the Bell Hotel to house asylum seekers.

“We have consistently shared concerns with the Home Office that the Bell Hotel is an entirely unsuitable location for this facility and should close,” council Leader Chris Whitbread said in a statement last week. “We continue to press Home Office officials for the immediate closure of the site and are encouraged that our local MPs are now actively supporting our call.”

MUMBAI, India: An Indian court acquitted on Monday 12 men previously convicted for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 that killed 187 people.

The men were convicted in 2015 of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against the country over the attacks during the evening rush hour of July 11, 2006 that also injured more than 800 people.

Five were sentenced to death, while the other seven were given life imprisonment.

But, 10 years later, the Bombay High Court set aside a lower court’s verdict and acquitted the 12 men.

Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said in their judgment, the prosecution had “utterly failed to establish the offense beyond the reasonable doubt against the accused on each count.”

The men were ordered to be released from jail “if they are not required to be detained in any other case.”

The prosecution can appeal against the order in the Supreme Court.

A total of seven blasts ripped through the trains after the bombs, packed into pressure cookers, were placed in bags and hidden under newspapers and umbrellas.

Prosecutors said the devices were assembled in Mumbai and deliberately placed in first-class coaches to target the city’s wealthy Gujarati community.

They said the bombings were intended as revenge for the riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002, which left some 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims.

Prosecutors accused Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of being behind the attacks, although a little-known outfit called the Lashkar-e-Qahhar later claimed responsibility.

Pakistan denied the allegations.