Dozens of police officers descended upon the scene as demonstrators entered the hotel premises, objecting to the controversial conversion of a 200-bed, four-star Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli,
Wales, into housing for 240 asylum seekers.
A substantial police presence remains stationed outside the Stradey Park Hotel in response to the decision, which has triggered outrage within the local community.
Just last week, motorcyclists and protesters staged a tense standoff with security personnel on the hotel grounds. This prompted an immediate escalation of security measures, and onlookers reported a significant police presence and riot vans aiding three cars containing security personnel in entering the premises, as per Wales Online.
A video from the scene captured irate locals jeering as they gathered outside the hotel amidst a throng of police officers in high-visibility vests.
The video, captioned “appears that all of Wales police attended the arrival of new security at The Stradley Park Hotel,” has garnered over 250 thousand views. Shared on TikTok, the footage reveals individuals shouting slogans like “fighting against your own people” and sarcastic comments like “well done, boys” amid the clamor of police sirens.
A sizable group of angered locals was directed aside as a female officer appealed to the rowdy crowd, stating, “Could you please step back? This car needs to pass through.”
The heightened security measures on Wednesday coincided with the hotel owners obtaining a temporary High Court injunction that restricts protesters' activities in objection to the conversion.
Gryphon Leisure, the hotel's owner, sought an "urgent interim injunction" from a London judge to forestall trespassing and obstruction on the property.
At a hearing on Thursday, Judge Roger ter Haar KC determined that there was a "very strong likelihood" that the hotel would be unable to "assert its own property rights." Consequently, he granted the injunction, effective until late January next year. Photo by KRoock74, Wikimedia commons.