Immigration advice centres and solicitors ‘fearful’ of going to work

Immigration advice staff and solicitors have said they are “fearful” about going to work amid “one of the worst” periods of violent disorder of the last decade.

Police are aware of six potential events on Tuesday and officers are anticipating a busy day on Wednesday as they monitor reports of at least 30 possible gatherings.

Concern for the safety of immigration law specialists in particular has been sparked after a list of solicitors’ firms and advice agencies across the country were shared in chat groups as targets in the coming days.

Around this area, all of the shops that are next to us - they’re very scared as well

Staff at some of those businesses told the PA news agency they have been advised to work from home on Wednesday, and that police and fire officers had visited their premises to check security arrangements including CCTV cameras and smoke alarms.

An office manager at an immigration advisory service said he felt “very very scared and very upset” regarding the threats his workplace has received.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Around this area, all of the shops that are next to us – they’re very scared as well.

“Offices and restaurants – they’re very scared and upset.”

Another solicitor, whose family firm practises immigration law, said they will be working from home for the foreseeable future as a result of threats made to their business, but are worried about the potential impact this could have on their clients.

He told the PA News agency: “For us, we’re mostly concerned about our clients because our clients come from war-torn countries – if we’re not in the office, we can’t provide enough service they need.

“There’s only so much we can do from home – most of our clients are quite vulnerable.

“If there is any violence or destruction, all the businesses in the area are family-run businesses – so if they target us, everyone gets affected.”

A staff member at an immigration services provider said they have been entering and leaving the office at the same time as their colleague so that neither of them are alone in the building, but will be working from home on Wednesday.

Speaking about the threats she has seen made to her workplace online, she said: “You don’t really know what can happen – you get a bit paranoid then like anytime someone comes or someone buzzes like ‘oh my god, is something going to happen?’”

When asked how she felt about returning to the office eventually, she said: “At the moment, we’re still in this kind of apprehensive, kind of fearful situation where you’re not really sure what to do.”

Companies also said that they have removed their addresses from their website as a precaution against potential targeted violence.

An immigration solicitor, whose workplace was among those circulated online as a target, said despite removing one of the office addresses from their website, staff at other locations remained concerned.

He said: “Our staff are scared in other addresses as well because all our addresses are on our website, we can’t just take the full address out because clients are travelling to us – and of course, it’s affecting us financially, emotionally.”

Mark Goldring, director of Asylum Welcome in Oxford – an organisation that provides advice and support to asylum seekers and refugees, told PA he was “very concerned” about recent events and threats made to the registered charity.

He said: “Obviously we were very concerned but we were even more concerned about the events of last week and the weekend, both in Southport but also in asylum hotels and cities across England – so alarm levels were rising among our clients, volunteers and staff even before we knew of the specific targeting we learned of yesterday.”

Mr Goldring, who has run the charity for five years, said that although the organisation has seen threats to individual clients, it has not experienced “anything like this” before.

He said that currently, the charity hopes to continue with its planned events later this week, providing violence does not escalate in the area, but that staff and volunteers have been told they should cancel activities or “step down” if they feel threatened or uncomfortable in any way.

Mr Goldring said: “Our bigger concern is that what we’ve seen this week is smaller numbers of clients actually coming to events and activities, and we don’t think this is because of specific threats – this is because of the broader fear in the environment and watching the news coverage across the country.

“Yesterday we had a football evening for young people, mostly young men and attendance fell off from 25 to half a dozen and we had a drop-in surgery, which happened yesterday – numbers were lowest that we’ve seen all year.

“So I think there’s a climate of concern of ‘I don’t want to go somewhere obvious or public if I don’t need to for the time being.'”

“Obviously we will close well ahead of the possible protest tomorrow, many of our staff have refugee backgrounds themselves and so this will be shocking, traumatising, worrying for some,” Mr Goldring added.

Several of the businesses listed as targets for anti-immigration protests said they have received an outpouring of support from local residents, businesses and members of the public across the country.

Nottinghamshire Police have urged anyone planning to attend a protest in West Bridgford tomorrow not to after an address posted publicly was revealed to belong to an elderly person.

An address for East Midlands Immigration Services has been shared on social media as a potential location for a protest on Wednesday evening, but it has “no links to the business”, Nottinghamshire Police said.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, the force said: “We are aware of a potential protest being organised in Nottingham on Wednesday evening.

“The location has no links to the business advertised on the internet. Officers have visited the address and it is home to an elderly person with vulnerabilities.

“It has no links whatsoever to any immigration business.

“We would strongly advise that those wishing to attend any protest in this location refrain from doing so as this is an elderly person’s home address. Thank you.”

On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “ramp up criminal justice” after violence over the weekend saw rioters storm hotels housing asylum seekers.

The Prime Minister will chair another emergency Cobra meeting with relevant ministers and police chiefs on Tuesday evening regarding tackling the violent disorder that has been taking place across the country, the PA news agency understands.

More than 400 people have now been arrested in the wake of disorder around the country, according to police sources, with the number expected to continue to rise in the coming days.

Two GP surgeries in north-east London have said that they are planning to shut early on Wednesday because of potential unrest in the area.

Elsewhere, Essex County Cricket Club has postponed a match between Essex Women and Kent Women at The Cloud Country Ground because of “planned protests” in the area.

In a statement, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Andy Valentine, said on Wednesday: “This country is faced with one of the worst spates of violent disorder in the last decade. This is a national critical incident and we will do everything in our power to protect London and its communities.

“We know about the events planned by hateful and divisive groups across the capital tomorrow night. They’ve made their intention to cause disruption and division very clear.

“The scenes of racist, thuggish and criminal behaviour across the country have been deeply shocking. Members of the public and officers have been attacked, many have been injured.

“We will not tolerate this on our streets. We will use every power, tactic and tool available to prevent further scenes of disorder.”