THOUSANDS have taken to the streets today in a protest against plans to house migrants in an army camp as it’s revealed cadets could be booted off the site.
The Home Office plans to move the asylum seekers to the military site on the edge of Crowborough, East Sussex by the end of next month.
Locals are up in arms over the hurried relocation of the migrants after hundreds of criminal offences have been linked to asylum seekers this year alone.
The plans sparked a flurry of protests in the community as residents turned out in their hundreds flying English flags and holding placards.
This marks the third week of demonstrations as the local community desperately try to make their voices heard.
Two marches started in Crowborough in pouring rain this morning before converging in the town centre and heading to a rally.
Oganisers estimated up to 3000 people braved near torrential rain and today 600 of them wore numbers to signify the number of asylum seekers expected at Crowborough Army Camp next week.
Penny Saunders, 58, an office administrator carried the number 600.
She said: “I’m Crowborough born and bred. I haven’t marched before but I’m in total agreement with it. It will make a huge difference to our community.
“I’ve seen catastrophic changes already. Our local services can’t cope as it is. I’ve seen crime rise and it’ll only get worse. This is about community and the fact these men will be undocumented.
“It is about safety. The reason people want to live here is about the community and safety, it is not about racism.”
Crowborough residents said police were handing out rape alarms in the town, which has been earmarked for 600 lone male migrants.
Kim Bailey said: “Lots of people have reported that police were handing out rape alarms in the town yesterday.
“If ‘everything is safe, legal and compliant’, why on Earth do women in a sleepy little town like Crowborough need rape alarms.”
A spokesman for Sussex Police said officers were in the town at an event not connected to the army camp.
“The local neighbourhood policing team attended a community event in Crowborough as part of its routine crime prevention and engagement work.
“Our officers regularly attend similar community events providing crime prevention advice across Sussex,” a spokesman said.
Campaign organisers told marchers they are now collecting money to provided CCTV cameras to any businesses who want them in the town.
Marchers chanted You’re Going Home to the tune of Three Lions as they took to the streets of Crowborough for a third weekend.
Crowborough is one of two sites earmarked to house small boat arrivals with very little warning.
And, to add insult to injury, the future of several cadet detachments based at the site has now been thrown into question in the face of the plans.
Concerns have been raised around the safety of the young soldiers if the migrants are relocated to the base.
It comes after reports that at least 200 residents in asylum hotels had been charged with various criminal offences, including sexual assaults, up to August this year.
Adult cadet instructors are considering suspending training in the wake of the announcement.
The senior instructors say they don’t believe they can ensure the safeguarding of cadets when the migrants arrive.
Simon Brown told GBNews: “As a local resident, you are here in all of this process, and I think when we spoke about 10 days ago the first question you asked me was, how did I feel, and I said ‘very worried’.
“And I have to say, from what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen over the last 10 days, I’ve gone from worried to scared. I’m genuinely, genuinely scared.”
As the site prepares to take on more than 500 arrivals large fences have been erected and security guards have been spotted patrolling the area with dogs.
Despite a lack of security training parents and cadet instructors have reportedly been enacting counter patrols on the site themselves.
These community operations are carried out around pick up and drop off time for the cadets.
Crowborough Shield, a resident’s group campaigning against the housing of asylum seekers on the site has said cadets at the site “will be displaced, with no alternative location offered.”
Kim Bailey, who chairs the group, said residents could have the asylum seekers dumped on them with as little as 48 hours notice.
Locals claim they had no warning of the plans to move asylum seekers in only finding out when it was leaked to a newspaper.
They say detail about the plans has caused “fear and worry” among the community, home to around 22,000 people.
As their protests continued Wealden district council backed a motion to oppose the plans formally.
The Crowborough camp does not have a permanent military population but is used as temporary accommodation for troops and cadets who make use of the nearby training area.
Cadets from 1414 squadron Air Cadets, No8 Crowborough Army Cadet Force, a Royal Marines Cadets detachment and a cadet training centre are based at the camp.
The MoD told the Telegraph it takes the “safety and wellbeing of all cadets extremely seriously and that it “continues to work with the Home Office to assess the potential impact that housing asylum seekers on military bases could have on our Cadet Forces.”
Crowborough locals have been seen sporting signs with messages such as “stop rewarding, start deporting”.
Others said: “Protect our town, protect our communities and protect our families and stop 600 illegal immigrants coming to Crowborough”.
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“Home office think again this is so wrong” said another placard.
Another march and rally are planned next weekend.
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