Asylum hotel protesters met by counter-demonstrators across UK.

Protests against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers have taken place across the UK.

Demonstrators gathered in England’s Bristol, Liverpool, and London, as well as Wales’ Mould, Scotland’s Perth, and Northern Ireland’s County Antrim.

Police intervened to keep opposing groups apart in numerous locations where anti-racism activists staged counter-demonstrations.

It follows a High Court decision this week that barred a hotel in Epping, Essex, from accommodating asylum seekers, and some local authorities in England said they were now considering legal action.

In Bristol, several hundred anti-racism protesters were separated from other protesters in Castle Park for nearly two hours by police in riot gear and on horseback, with some attempting to push through police lines.

They outnumbered dozens of anti-immigrant activists. Bristol City Council has said it has no plans to challenge the government’s use of hotels to house asylum seekers in the city.

Police in the city reported that a 37-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker. Following a protest in Liverpool, Merseyside Police said 11 people were arrested for a variety of offences including being drunk and disorderly, assault, and affray.

More than 400 people attended a UKIP-organized march calling for migrants’ deportation.

They were opposed by a few hundred members of Stand Up To Racism and the Merseyside Anti-Fascist Network.

Other protests occurred in Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Wakefield, Newcastle, and Horley, Surrey.

In Perth, about 150 protesters held signs with the slogan “get them out” outside the Radisson Blu hotel.

More than 200 people marched across the street in a counter-protest, waving banners reading “no to racism” and “refugees welcome”.

Around 300 people protested in Mould against a possible plan to house asylum seekers in flats above a retail unit. They were met with a counter-protest of approximately 40 people.

In County Antrim, approximately 40 people gathered outside a hotel that is being used to house asylum seekers. The Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has launched an investigation into its legal planning status.

Police are deploying extra officers over the weekend and using special powers to order people to leave the area.

Surrey Police arrested three people at a protest outside the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, two for breach of peace and one for violating the terms of a community protection notice.