More than 200 refugee organizations, charities and unions signed an open letter on August 11, calling on UK party leaders to end "divisive politics, racist rhetoric, and demonizing language", after weeks of anti-migrant protests.

The recent unrest has been spurred by the discourses of certain UK party leaders, who have been using language and misinformation to play upon the public’s fears related to migration.

Coordinated by the campaign coalition Together With Refugees, the letter signed by Amnesty International UK, Oxfam and End Violence Against Women Coalition, among others, began by stating “the anti-refugee protests across the country have been distressing to witness”. 

“Many of the people targeted have already suffered unimaginably, having fled their lives from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Now, due to unacceptable delays and a broken system, they are housed in hotels, a collective target of hostility, banned from working, with limited control over their lives or futures,” noted the letter.

The protests began in mid-July in the small town of Epping, after reports emerged that an asylum seeker was arrested on suspicion of alleged sexual assaults. Within hours, far-right activists surrounded the hotel where the man was housed, demanding an end to migrant accommodation in the area. 

Since then, similar protests have broken out at other hotels across the UK, with at least 18 people arrested and eight police officers injured in clashes between anti-immigration activists and anti-racist protesters.

Divide and conquer

In the backdrop of the unrest, certain attitudes expressed toward foreigners by senior politicians like Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Conservative MP Robert Jenrick have added fuel to the flames. Minister Keir Starmer was accused of echoing the far-right when he said the UK "risked becoming an island of strangers" in a speech on migration. Starmer later said he regretted using that phrase.

Farage returned to a familiar metaphor on August 12 when evoking small boat crossings in the Channel on X: "As I predicted 5 years ago, unless we deport illegal migrants, the invasion will be huge."

Far-right politicians frequently speak of migrants in terms of hordes, waves, or invasions to spark fear in the collective consciousness.

Jenrick prompted a backlash when he claimed that 40 percent of sexual assaults in London in 2024 were committed by foreign nationals, one of several claims that have since been debunked.

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“I certainly don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with immigrant men with backward views who broke into Britain illegally, and about whom we know next to nothing," wrote the MP in an editorial published in the right-wing tabloid Daily Mail.

The events in Epping have sparked a national debate about the effect of sheltering asylum seekers in communities across Britain, according to the BBC.

Yet the charities that signed the letter call for the debate about migration to be a reasonable one, carried out without the emotions that often degenerate into xenophobia. "The pernicious and insidious currents of racism and hatred underlying these protests are glaring evidence of a failing system," they stated.

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The charities wish to counter far-right narratives by relying on widespread support for refugees.

Sonya Sceats, Chief Executive at Freedom from Torture, said: "To meet with hate on the streets of Britain, whipped up by politicians for their own ends, makes survivors feel hunted again and adds to their trauma. This isn’t who we are as a country."

Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said: "The vicious and relentless attacks on people seeking asylum from some politicians and sections of the media using age-old racist tropes and shoddy data must stop now. We must build on the huge swathes of support for refugees that has spilled out onto the streets and create truly resilient and welcoming communities."