A woman has been arrested in Epping and four people were detained in London after “aggressive” anti-migrant protesters wearing masks stormed a Canary Wharf shopping centre.

Around 200 people gathered outside the Epping Forest District Council building, where a woman climbed the steps and unfurled a Union flag on Saturday evening. She was detained by officers after refusing to leave.

Demonstrators had previously gathered outside the Bell Hotel , which has become the focal point of national protests after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month. He has denied the charges.

Any protest must have ended by 8pm and must not block the road, Essex Police said.

Earlier in the day, a police officer in central London’s Canary Wharf was “pu

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