The Metropolitan Police has erected a steel ring outside the Britannia Hotel in east London. The hotel is set to host asylum seekers, according to the local council, and now the police have put up metal barriers to prevent anyone unauthorised from entering.

Police are braced for a second night of protesters and counter-demonstrators gathered outside an east London hotel after it emerged that asylum seekers are set to be housed there. Officers are guarding the four-star Britannia International Hotel on Marsh Wall, Canary Wharf as the two rivals shout at each other from across the street.

The protest erupted on Tuesday night outside the four-star Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf, which the government intends to use as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, according to Tower Hamlets Council.