Epping has found itself at the centre of a controversy over asylum seekers being housed in hotels in the past week. The Essex town, with a population of about 12,000 and which sits at the end of the Central line on the London Underground network, has seen more 1,000 people take part in two protests.

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 have hit out at spending £100,000 to tackle ‘hooligans’ hijacking protests over the Epping migrant hotel. Disorder over the past week has seen police vans and an undercover car smashed as hundreds of protesters took over the small Essex town.