Anti-migrant protests continue at Canary Wharf

0:02Hi, I'm Charlie Duffield and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up later in the show, heavy metal giant and pop culture icon Ozzy Osbourne died at the age of 76 on Tuesday. We'll hear about his life, legacy and the tributes pouring in since his death. But first, the Met Police has attended a second night of anti-migrant protests at the Britannia International Hotel at Canary Wharf after it emerged that asylum seekers are set to be housed there. Here's a clip of the riots.

0:53Increasingly violent demonstrations have taken place since an asylum seeker staying at a hotel in Epping was charged with sexual assault and there has been a suggestion that the Epping Hotel protests were organised by the UK's biggest neo-nazi group, Homeland Party. Today, Essex police issued a dispersal order in Epping following a series of demonstrations outside a hotel, believed to be housing asylum seekers from 2pm today until 8am on Friday. It means that the The police has the power to direct anyone suspected of committing antisocial behaviour or planning to do so to leave the area or face arrest.

1:35Joining us now is The Standards' Chief Political Correspondent, Rachel Burford. So, Rachel, tell me more about these protests. We've obviously seen in the last few days, a couple of weeks, protests and demonstrations outside hotels used to house asylum seekers while their claims to remain in the country are assessed. There have been some in Norfolk, in a place called Dis, and in Epping as well. Outside, they've got two asylum hotels there. And there's now some breaking out as well in Canary Wharf, where a hotel is opening there. In Epping, 10 people have now been arrested for various sort of disorder offences outside those.

2:15And those were sparked by the arrest of someone who was living in one of those hotels for sexual assault. This sparked a wave of other protests in other places in the country. And who is behind these riots? So what authorities and some of the people protesting have said is these protests started peacefully. And then some people have come sometimes from outside the town and they are responsible for the violence. We saw the bottles, bricks being thrown at police and attacks on officers. There have also been counter protesters going, people that say migrants are welcome here. and that has also sparked some of the disorder as well because they have clashed in the streets outside these hotels.

2:55What have the police said? Police in Epping have arrested 10 people for various offences. We've seen officers surrounding the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf as they sort of get it ready for migrants to come and live there. Officers said that they're in attendance at the protest outside the hotel in Canary Wharf. No arrests have been made there, but officers are remaining in the area to deal with any incidents that might occur. You've got people like the right-wing activist Tommy Robinson saying on social media that they are organising something for this weekend. The suggestions that that will be in Epping.

3:28The ones in Canary Wharf have been sparked by the false rumours that the asylum seekers that were living in Epping were then being moved to this hotel in Canary Wharf. And suggestions that it was going to cost£400 a night per person there. The Home Office has since clarified that, yes, it will be used as asylum accommodation, this hotel in East London. but the cost will be£81 per night per person. And a Home Office spokesman said that asylum seekers are not being removed from the Bell Hotel in Epping. It's been one year since the Southport riots. Are we going to witness a further summer of unrest?

4:02Those riots, obviously last year, were sparked by the lawful murder of those three young girls in Southport. Police are certainly worried that not much has changed since those riots in terms of their facilities to be able to deal with this kind of disorder. Tiff Lynch, who is head of the Police Federation, warned that the disorder outside the Essex Asylum Hotel was a signal flare, is the word she used, for more unrest to come. She said, you know, since last summer's riots, they exposed the deep fragility within our public order policing system, and the gaps were plain to see, and little has improved since.

4:39There is the suggestion that officers may be taken away from normal neighbourhood policing and they're going to have to deal with protest demonstrations that may turn violent outside these hotels. And are people right to be concerned about asylum seekers? So that's an interesting question. Epping Forest District Council are actually meeting tonight and they are putting forward a motion that is calling for the immediate and permanent closure of the Bell Hotel and the Phoenix Hotel, which are both being used as asylum accommodation. They are saying that sort of smaller, more rural towns are not the places for asylum seekers to be housed.

5:17Like often these hotels are used to house young single men from abroad while their asylum applications are decided on. Epping says that in the papers that they're going to be discussing tonight, there have been two hotels that are situated just two and a half miles apart in their area at the centre of multiple serious incidents in recent weeks, including the arrest and charge of one man for a sexual assault on a schoolgirl and the arrest of another individual for arson who is believed to have been moved between the two hotels in the area. The thing is, London does have a significant amount of asylum hotels.

5:53These hotels do kind of fly into the radar and do not go noticed. In sort of smaller rural towns like Epping, like Dys in Norfolk, if you do put 60, 70 young men from abroad there, They do get noticed and it is more sort of public and more obvious that has happened. And that has worried locals in those areas. And when you put 50, 60, 70 young men into a hotel in a rural area where they've got nothing to do, they're not able to work. They're just sat around sort of waiting and they haven't really got much money. They get their sort of stipend from the home office every week, but they've not got an income and they're not allowed to do anything all day.

6:33they do end up sort of just hanging around and that has concerns locals in those areas. Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two, a look at the life and legacy of famed rabble rouser Ozzy Osbourne after his death on Tuesday. We'll see you back here in just a moment. Welcome back.

7:06That was a clip from Ozzy Osbourne's final performance. He died on Tuesday at the age of 76. Tributes have poured in for the famous Birmingham-born musician who first rose to prominence as the frontman of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Joining us now is Lisa McLaughlin. She's the celebrity correspondent at The Standard. Our producer Robin Simon spoke with her about Ozzy's life and legacy. So tell me a bit about Ozzy Osbourne's Parkinson's diagnosis. Yeah, Ozzy's health had been in decline for years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2003, although he only went public with it in 2020.

7:47On top of that, he underwent multiple surgeries following a serious fall in 2019 that aggravated old injuries from a quad bike accident that also nearly left him dead. over the past few years, he's cancelled numerous live shows and even formally retired from touring. Despite that, he kept saying he'd perform again if he could and that he did at the beginning of this month. Yeah. Tell me a bit about his final performance. We heard a clip of that off the top of this segment. Yeah. A few weeks ago, Ozzy sat on his rock and roll throne, topped appropriately by a bat in front of 40 ,000 fans at Villa Park in Birmingham and his native Birmingham.

8:24He stood on stage with his Black Sabbath bandmates, kind of taking their final bow in their hometown. This was always billed as his final show. And it kind of feels like the perfect curtain call, not only on his career, but on his life. And I think a lot of people and fans were delighted now upon reflection to actually have that goodbye to Ozzy. You mentioned that he was the frontman of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. What has been the band's impact on music and culture generally? I suppose, you know, when we look back, Black Sabbath basically invented heavy metal. You know, before Sabbath, rock was rebellious, sure, but Sabbath made it darker, heavier and more theatrical.

9:07Culturally, they helped make outsider music mainstream. And it all laid the groundwork for bands like Metallica and Slipknot, Bring Me the Horizon and even Youngblood. I suppose we can't forget as well about Sabbath's origins. They came out of an industrial Birmingham in the late 60s. And that kind of bleakness seeped into their sound and it resonated with them with a working class youth, not just within the UK, but around the world. Ozzy was famous for being a bit of an agitator. What are some of his most notorious moments that have lived in our minds and culture over the years? Yeah, where do you start, Robin, really?

9:42I suppose his most infamous one is, of course, the bat in 1982 when he bit the head off a bat on stage. he's since claimed he thought it was a toy but you know there was also the time that he bit the head off a dove in a meeting with the music execs there's also his 1980s arrest for urinating on the Alamo while dressed in one of Sharon's dresses but then also there was kind of more darker moments within his life that he became known for I suppose in 1989 he woke up in a jail to be told that he'd been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for strangling Sharon he couldn't remember anything about it and she dropped the charges you know And through that, Sharon then attempted to help Aussie control his intake of alcohol and drugs, which we know led to him being kicked out for a brief time with Black Sabbath.

10:27There were periods when he appeared to kind of have quit those addictions, though. Often he did fall off the wagon, but he has always credited Sharon for helping him through that. And I think he once said if it wasn't for Sharon, I'd be long dead. But aside from that, then more recently, I suppose, the Osbournes reality shows mentioned him as a sweary but endearing individual. You know, he was the blueprint for a rock star on predictability. And we loved him for it through all the trials and tribulations. Since his death, many tributes have poured in. What has his family said publicly at this point?

10:59So they released a joint statement. It said in full that it is with more sadness than mere words that convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away. this morning, he was with his family surrounded by love. We asked that everyone to respect our family privacy at this time but since that statement came out, Sharon has responded to some tributes that have come online. She responded to a tribute from Radio 1 Jack Saunders who paid tribute to Ozzy on his show on Wednesday night thanking him for the tribute and saying, you know, also bless you and equally the same sentiments with Gavin Rossdale who paid tribute as well to Ozzy.

11:36But that's all for the time being as they said they want people to respect their privacy at this time, I suppose, while they're breathing. Of course. What other celebrity tributes have come in? Yeah, jeez, I've never seen such a wave of celebrity tribute in my years. You know, I think Ozzy, I suppose, he was such a cultural pop culture legend. It wasn't just within his music, but, you know, he crossed industries. And we've seen Paul McCartney, Elton John, Post Malone paying tribute to him. There's also been Metallica's James Havefield called Ozzy a godfather and a guide and a giant. Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Cargan likened him to Sinatra.

12:17You know, the common thread, as I mentioned earlier, is that Ozzy cross-genre and generational lines. And I suppose he was a rock, sir, but also a pop culture icon. And even Gen Z's and Gen Alpha's know him from the Osbournes, thanks to many a meme that have popped up across TikTok and Instagram throughout the years. Which brings us to, as you said, it's not just the celebrity tributes and the well-known other musicians and artists that have poured in the tributes, but the public at large. Can you tell me a bit about what has been said by people of the public? I suppose it's less than what they're just saying, but their actions, you know, between candlelight vigils outside his old homes in Birmingham and L.A.

12:55There's been flowers that have been laid upon his star on the Walk of Fame. Black Sabbath fans have been gathering at landmarks like the Black Sabbath bench in Birmingham's Broad Street. Metal bars around the world have held tribute nights and people are headbanging in his honour. You know, a lot of people online then are sharing some of his wildest moments, his acoustic renditions of different songs, fan tattoos, video montages. But there's also just a lot of humor, people celebrating his chaos, his humanity. He was an absurd and unfiltered character, but he was loved for it. And I suppose his death, not just for hardcore loyal fans, but for many pop culture lovers, it just feels like the end of an era.

13:36not just for metal, but for a kind of rock and roll lawlessness that we won't really see anymore. Yeah, absolutely. He had a wide ranging impact for not only his music, but the cultural references, his family. What do you think the lasting impact of Ozzy's legacy is going to be? Do you know what? It's quite interesting when I was looking back on just his life and his, you know, his most notorious moments. You know, obviously people remember him for for snorting ants or for eating the head off a bat or a dove. You know, there's all those shocking moments. But ultimately, I read this journalist that said that his legacy is on par to to the course of the Beatles because it bled into past music and into every part of our culture.

14:23so I think we can all take pause at this moment you know just reflecting on the different aspects of our culture that Ozzy found himself ingrained in not just music it was TV it was pop culture and his legacy will just continue to go on Well Lisa I really appreciate you joining us to talk about this real rock legend's life and history thank you so much No thank you And that's The Standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk if you'd like to get in touch please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk we'll be back here tomorrow at 5 p.m we'll see you then