Police have released images of eight people they want to identify following “criminal activity” at a protest outside a hotel housing migrants in Aldershot.
Hampshire Police said one of their officers suffered a minor injury in the melee outside the Potters International Hotel on Wednesday night.
They say a minority of the 200 people present at the protest began to become involved in criminal activity at around 6.45pm, with cases of criminal damage, racial abuse and intimidation.
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“As part of this investigation, officers are committed to identifying the eight people depicted in the images we have provided,” Hampshire Police said in a statement.
“Do you know the people pictured? Do you have any information that could help our investigation?”
Police are analyzing evidence from their officers’ body-worn cameras, images captured by the National Police Air Service and local CCTV cameras.
There was several incidents of unrest across the country after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport on Monday.
However, police did not link the disruption to the Southport attack.
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Deputy Chief Constable Paul Bartolomeo said: “The quick and decisive actions of our officers saw this incident brought under control, preventing further harm to the community in Aldershot.
“Our teams of experts are working hard to identify anyone who has committed a crime and we will take swift and robust action against those people.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest. However, officers will take a firm stance against those whose behavior falls below the standard we expect and who choose to act outside the law.”
Aldershot Labor MP Alex Baker said the situation had been “exacerbated” by people outside the local community “determined to cause unrest”.
“There is no justification for disorderly behavior and these scenes do not represent Aldershot and Farnborough,” she said.
“We all support our common right to peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate people coming to our cities determined to stir up trouble and divide our community.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
