‘It’s got nothing to do with racism. My daughter is black. She’s half-Ghanian,’ says one Isle of Dogs resident, watching the stand-off outside the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf. She’s come with a friend who’s worried for her young child. ‘I’ve got a seven-year-old and I don’t want her to play downstairs. You’re scared for them, really scared.’

‘My grandad fought for this country and then you’ve got people like that – Daddy’s money,’ one man says, gesturing towards the counter protestors

Since Lutfur Rahman’s Tower Hamlets council announced that the hotel would be used to house asylum seekers, protesters gather daily. Steel fencing has been erected to guard the entrance. Police officers line up on the edge of the pavement. Protesters attend regularly, sometimes daily. They wear British

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