Juno News - October 31, 2025


Inside England’s migrant hotel protests


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

177.41614

Word count

2,958

Sentence count

237

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Melanie Bennett visits a protest in Norwich where anti-migrant protesters are demonstrating against the introduction of a 'sanctuary city' for migrants. She talks to the protesters and tries to find out why they are angry about it.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I'm Melanie Bennett, and for True North, I'm in England. I'm in Norwich, which for a long time
00:00:15.920 was Britain's second city. It's an ancient city in what used to be the ancient kingdom of East
00:00:23.060 Anglia, now Norfolk, Suffolk, and so on and so forth. So wealthy, in fact, that in 866, the great
00:00:30.000 heathen army, the Vikings, raided and took over, and it was a whole kerfuffle, and I think the city 0.69
00:00:36.380 itself didn't really become a city until 1096, but it's old. It has lots of old features, like here.
00:00:43.360 There's a feel of aristocracy in the countryside, and it is not the kind of place where you would
00:00:48.800 expect huge disruptions. In fact, it's kind of boring most of the time. So why am I here? I
00:00:54.480 found out that Norwich became a sanctuary city for migrants, and that's causing a lot of tension
00:00:59.520 with the locals. In actually my old neighborhood, where my son went to school in Bothorp, Thorpe
00:01:06.440 showing the Viking past of this area, there have been protests at a hotel, anti-migrant
00:01:12.380 protests, and I want to go talk to them today, and I want to go find out what's going on and
00:01:16.900 why are they protesting.
00:01:26.900 I have come to join the anti-migrant protesters in Bothorp in Norwich, which is a suburb just 1.00
00:01:33.420 outside of Norwich. A lot of families, a lot of pensioners, things like that. And this is
00:01:38.300 the local pub in basically Chapel Break. This is the neighborhood my son went to school, so
00:01:42.600 this is a bit surreal for me. Everybody's gathering. They've got some flags going on.
00:01:46.880 I was just talking to some protesters, and they told me that there's been some issues
00:01:51.700 with crime, increasing crime in this area. And I don't remember this area having a lot
00:01:54.880 of crime when I lived here. They're very concerned about that. Not just at the hotel, but generally
00:01:59.880 in the area. So it looks like everybody is meeting up at the Norwich pub. So we have a few
00:02:05.640 flags out. There's some police in the background just doing their thing. I'm going to go talk to
00:02:10.880 these people and find out what's going on. I heard there were some issues at the hotel
00:02:15.700 with... There has been, yes. Sexual, you know, to do with sex crimes, you know, rape. And a lot
00:02:25.880 of them hang around the schools taking pictures. As I said, I actually witnessed that over one
00:02:31.880 of one of the local schools last week. Where it gets a little bit hard to swallow as well
00:02:37.300 is that a lot of these schools that are encouraging the children to become more involved with the
00:02:45.120 migrants. And I mean that literally. They're saying, the migrants aren't here to hurt you.
00:02:50.560 You know, they're okay. They're just seeking, you know, asylum or, you know, they're refugees 1.00
00:02:56.800 from another country where there's lots of trouble. And... So would you say that's teaching
00:03:00.260 them to reduce their risk tolerance? Yes, I would. But the trouble is, I was
00:03:03.420 always brought up when I was a child that you didn't talk to strangers and things like that.
00:03:08.140 You don't do that. You never did that. You know, especially, even more so when it comes
00:03:13.720 to foreign people. You know they're from a different country. It's always they're from 1.00
00:03:16.960 a different country. And especially if they're hanging around in groups and stuff. So you
00:03:21.600 don't get... You know, they shouldn't be teaching them that they aren't of any risk to them.
00:03:26.640 Yeah. Because obviously they are. And this is what I don't understand about the so-called
00:03:32.520 far left. They seem to be in denial of a lot. Generally speaking, it's the far left people
00:03:39.460 who antagonise us because they know we're under strict, you know, we've got to behave.
00:03:45.800 Mr. Starmer, he seems to think, and he's at it again this morning on the news, he said he's
00:03:52.480 now going to take steps to deal with the far right people in this country. And I'm thinking,
00:03:59.480 what's that all about again? It's a threat. It's a threat. Yeah. Normal mums and dads who
00:04:03.480 are worried about their children and stuff like that. And the society they're growing
00:04:07.560 up in. And that, you know, he's coming out with stuff like that. We aren't doing any wrong.
00:04:12.360 The left... Going back to your question about whether the police... They are, they're biased.
00:04:17.360 Biased towards the left wing. I saw it at the London March the other week.
00:04:21.360 The Tommy Rollers... Is that the Unite the Kingdom? 1.00
00:04:23.360 Yes. The Unite... Yeah. But what they tend to do, they tend to turn their shields and that
00:04:28.360 towards us and stand like we are now with the shields. And then the left wing stand over
00:04:35.360 there and they're not hassling them at all. And not that I'm saying they should, but I
00:04:39.360 mean they should treat everybody the same. I shall keep coming to these and hopefully
00:04:43.360 one day something will change. But I still... I still... I don't approve of being dubbed,
00:04:52.360 you know, far right, racist, fascist is another one they call fascist, racist. You know, I'm
00:05:00.360 all for, I'm all for legal migration. I don't, I've never had anything, you know, but what
00:05:05.360 they've, what they've done, they've let everything get out of hand. It's out of control.
00:05:09.360 We're going to do the march soon. Let's get Norwich back on the map, ladies and gentlemen.
00:05:25.360 You know, it's really sad. I keep having conversations with people and they tell me how
00:05:28.360 how devastated they are. They tell me these stories about how there's so much tension in
00:05:34.360 the UK. I just heard this man tell me how, you know, there was a bit of violence this
00:05:39.360 week, but he was explaining there hasn't been violence, but they feel the sense of escalating
00:05:44.360 violence and the police don't seem to really be helping. But he was explaining what I felt
00:05:50.360 was a tinderbox of tension. The way that they separated the protesters, the left, I guess,
00:05:56.360 and the right completely separated. They cannot come into contact. He said, that's new as
00:06:00.360 well. So I guess the police are even sensing this tension.
00:06:03.360 This is the hotel. From what I gather, this was a reasonably nice hotel that now looks completely
00:06:20.360 abandoned and derelict. So this is separating two sides of the protest. On the other side
00:06:26.360 is a lot of colourful flags and I can't tell what they're representing. Very different to Canada.
00:06:33.360 There's no contact at all between these two sides. I'll just show you. Even here with the
00:06:40.360 protesters, they're on the side of the road and they're also on the other side of the road.
00:06:43.360 There's people honking, but it doesn't feel like a protest in the same way. So you don't
00:06:48.360 have those clashes like you do in Canada and Tifa style at all. They are getting a reasonable 0.68
00:06:54.360 amount of support.
00:06:56.360 Do you mind if I interview you by your side?
00:07:02.360 Nope. Nobody wants to talk on camera. They're all too afraid, even though they're all standing
00:07:06.360 here. Nobody wants to give me an interview, even though they completely welcomed me, which
00:07:09.360 is great. And I can't talk to the people on the other side with all of the fancy flags.
00:07:14.360 Apparently, they said they recognize me as a right wing journalist. That's what the policeman
00:07:20.360 told me. So I can't go talk to them. And we have to blur faces. So I'm hiding whatever's going on. I would have
00:07:24.360 liked to talk to them because they've got music. They sound like they're having fun. I genuinely
00:07:28.360 wanted to understand their perspective, their point of view. But I guess we're not going to
00:07:31.360 hear that today. I've been no-no'd. I am wearing my badge. But anyway, so that's sad. Unfortunately,
00:07:39.360 I won't be able to get to speak to them. So let's go talk to the other guys.
00:07:43.360 Save our kids! Save our kids! Save our kids! Save our kids! Save our kids! Save our kids!
00:07:49.360 Save our kids! Like the migrants that come in the country. You know, just going around 1.00
00:07:56.360 following kids and stuff. Has that happened here? Yeah, it's happened right here. It's
00:08:01.360 happened quite a lot, to be honest. There's a part just next door, did that? Yeah, that's happened
00:08:05.360 over there and all. There's a lot of it going on. So we're just trying to make a stand, really.
00:08:10.360 Us getting beyond a joke, so. Do you have kids? I've got three. And they're petrified
00:08:15.360 they're coming out because of these. So I'm here as a dad. What did they learn in school?
00:08:22.360 They learn everything. But then they're teaching them about everything about this. You know what
00:08:26.360 I mean? I had assembly the other day saying about that us lot wouldn't have anything if
00:08:31.360 it weren't for these being there. Like, come on, that's not true. When I was a young man, we would never need to put flags on lampposts,
00:08:39.360 because everybody knew they were English, or if they weren't English, they were proud to live in England,
00:08:46.360 and grateful to live in England. Now we have a society that's building that there are communities that literally
00:08:56.360 hate this country and have loyalty to another country or other countries around the world.
00:09:03.360 That's not safe for our women and girls and children to go into the parks because of being molested by people 1.00
00:09:13.360 who don't share our values. They have a value system that says women are less than men. 1.00
00:09:20.360 I'm homeless right now. I'm English, homeless for 10 years, got a job, two children.
00:09:26.360 They still want to house these immigrants, illegal migrants before an English person. 1.00
00:09:32.360 I went to speak to, I guess, the Patriots last night, and we had a really productive conversation. And one of the
00:09:41.360 things that I noticed is that they very much spoke about, I guess you could say the enemy or the other
00:09:47.360 side as the left, like as this block. And part of that, the left would be the sanctuary cities. And as I told you,
00:09:58.360 Norwich is a city of sanctuary. It has a whole website, Norwich cities of sanctuary. So I reached out to them,
00:10:03.360 asking them for an interview because I want to understand the perspective of those who want to welcome
00:10:10.360 migrants, more migrants and integrate them. And that's what they appear to be doing. Now, most of the time,
00:10:16.360 people on the left don't respond to me, but I will say fair play to them. They did. Now, before we go on to other
00:10:24.360 information, I noticed on their website, a couple of things. The first thing is they also refer to the
00:10:31.360 other as a as a group, right? So the other they're worried about being targets of misinformation by the
00:10:37.360 far right. So, you know, one group of people is against the left and another group of people is against
00:10:42.360 the far right. And I want to know, are they actually talking to each other? And if not, will they both talk to
00:10:48.360 me now? They've agreed to talk to me. Ben Margulis is the person who responded to me. He did say he did
00:10:53.360 want to have a list of questions ahead of time. So I prepared a list of questions. I'm not here to gotcha
00:10:58.360 anybody. I really do want to just understand where they're coming from. And if they're worried about
00:11:02.360 this polarization, actually. I think the first thing to say is that when certainly people in the U.S.
00:11:08.360 and possibly in Canada as well, here sanctuary cities, there's a U.S. version of a sanctuary city is
00:11:15.360 obviously a city that has different laws in place than some of the federal laws and in other cities.
00:11:21.360 That's not the case in the UK. We obviously don't have that state-based, federal-based system.
00:11:25.360 So a city of sanctuary doesn't have any different laws in place around asylum dispersal than anywhere else.
00:11:34.360 Simply what it means, and we talk about cities of sanctuary rather than sanctuary cities,
00:11:39.360 is that there is a commitment from a broad swathe of the community for it to be a welcoming place.
00:11:46.360 And we're very, very focused on that being a welcoming place for everybody.
00:11:49.360 We do work particularly with people in the asylum system and refugees,
00:11:53.360 but we recognize that we want our communities to be welcoming for everyone.
00:11:57.360 Has there been an effort to, for example, reach out and engage?
00:12:02.360 It's a really good question. And I don't think there has been in anything like the way there should be.
00:12:08.360 I'm very passionate about it and I'm currently doing some work on that right now.
00:12:11.360 Yeah.
00:12:12.360 So I think, I think dialogue is absolutely critical.
00:12:15.360 And I'm, I'm worried about what's happening in Norwich.
00:12:20.360 And I believe very passionately the dialogue could, is probably the best tool that we have.
00:12:26.360 Yeah, because the website says, like when you go on the, I'm sorry to interrupt,
00:12:29.360 but when you go on the website, it's, it, what you're saying makes a lot of sense.
00:12:33.360 But, but if you go on the website, so if you're somebody from the outside, like me,
00:12:36.360 who doesn't understand.
00:12:37.360 And when, when you're seeing any reference to some of these migrant protests, right?
00:12:41.360 It sort of just talks about the, the far right as a group.
00:12:44.360 Like it doesn't really talk about the, the, the broader group of people.
00:12:48.360 And maybe that's not, that's not something that needs to happen for cities of Sanctuary.
00:12:52.360 Maybe that's not really in Europe.
00:12:53.360 Is that on the national website or on the Norwich website?
00:12:55.360 Oh, that's a good question.
00:12:56.360 It might've actually been on the, the national one.
00:13:00.360 But it's a good flag.
00:13:01.360 And I should look at that because I think it's, I think language is unbelievably powerful
00:13:05.360 and very important that we get it right.
00:13:07.360 I do not fully second believe that let's say there's been at times three or 400 people protesting
00:13:12.360 outside the hotel in both of the, the, the, you know, I don't, I don't want to put a percentage
00:13:17.360 on it, but a very high percentage of those people are not far right.
00:13:20.360 Yeah.
00:13:21.360 They are people, local people with very legitimate concerns.
00:13:23.360 My concern is that in part because of misinformation.
00:13:27.360 Yeah.
00:13:28.360 The nature of social media, in part because of some agitation from outside, those concerns
00:13:32.360 are being, um, aimed at the, the, the, the, uh, what's the word I'm looking for?
00:13:38.360 The enemy, that the reason for all of these things is immigrants and asylum seekers. 1.00
00:13:42.360 And I just, I mean, it's just not the case.
00:13:44.360 We, we work with all sorts of people who are, um, arrived in the asylum system.
00:13:48.360 And, and I, I don't want to give names.
00:13:50.360 I could not ask for anyone, but I can tell you of, um, I can tell you of a man, uh, from Syria
00:13:55.360 who, uh, who several members of his family were killed.
00:13:59.360 He had no option but to flee because he was a direct threat of being murdered,
00:14:03.360 or at least in prison for many years.
00:14:05.360 Um, took him many, many months to travel over land.
00:14:07.360 He eventually died from the UK.
00:14:08.360 He was dispersed to Norwich.
00:14:10.360 Um, he is a doctor by training.
00:14:13.360 He was a doctor in Syria.
00:14:14.360 He was on the wrong side of the regime.
00:14:16.360 Since he's received his asylum claim, he's now practicing as a doctor here.
00:14:21.360 And his speciality is clinical psychology.
00:14:24.360 He's, um, working with lots of people with, um, significant trauma.
00:14:28.360 British people and people from other countries to support them in the city.
00:14:31.360 And he's doing huge amount of work to support the wider healthcare system
00:14:34.360 to think about how they are working with asylum seekers and so on.
00:14:38.360 Um, we know dentists who now are practicing dentistry.
00:14:41.360 And we know it's a huge problem to get enough dentists.
00:14:43.360 There are dentists here.
00:14:44.360 Um, there's engineers who are now working with companies doing engineering in the city.
00:14:49.360 I mean, there are so many examples, um, of people who once they receive their asylum claim
00:14:55.360 are making.
00:14:56.360 Wow.
00:14:57.360 Going from traveling on foot probably and a boat to practicing medicine abroad.
00:15:02.360 I mean, that's quite the success.
00:15:04.360 Oh, it's extraordinary.
00:15:05.360 I mean, these are remarkably resilient people.
00:15:07.360 Yeah.
00:15:08.360 Remarkably resilient people.
00:15:09.360 Across the pond, England, like Canada,
00:15:12.360 is struggling with the same uneasy transformation.
00:15:16.360 A quiet erosion of trust, identity, and belonging.
00:15:20.360 What was once called tolerance has begun to feel to many like enforced compliance.
00:15:25.360 Patriotism itself has been recast as something suspect.
00:15:29.360 Acceptable only when expressed in the right way by the right people.
00:15:35.360 Citizens who voice concerns are branded with the familiar dismissive labels, far right, extremist,
00:15:43.360 or hateful.
00:15:44.360 These labels are thrown around like lazy pejoratives, thought stopping cliches to soothe the cognitive
00:15:50.360 dissonance.
00:15:51.360 At the same time, the political class seem ever more willing to punish for wrong think, while
00:15:56.360 overlooking the deeper dysfunction.
00:15:58.360 A kind of anarcho tyranny.
00:16:01.360 We see this here in Canada too.
00:16:03.360 Speech crimes prosecuted, while real crimes are left ignored.
00:16:07.360 In Norwich, a place far removed from London's political theatre, is certainly the last place
00:16:12.360 you'd expect a movement like this to take shape.
00:16:15.360 It's not led by agitators, but by local people who speak less of ideology than home,
00:16:22.360 safety, fairness, and a longing for stability in a world that feels increasingly tense.
00:16:28.360 The English are done, watching their country decline, and they're no longer willing to stand
00:16:33.360 aside.
00:16:34.360 And I for one hope that resolve will inspire Canadians too.
00:16:38.360 For True North, I'm Melanie Bennett.