LONDON (Reuters) -A British local authority on Tuesday lost its bid to have asylum seekers removed from a hotel after a resident was charged with sexual assault, an incident which sparked months-long anti-immigration protests.

Epping Forest District Council took legal action to try to stop asylum seekers being housed in the Bell Hotel in Epping, in the county of Essex, about 20 miles north of London.

The council had sought an injunction from London’s High Court, on the grounds that the hotel’s owner did not have planning permission to use it to accommodate asylum seekers.

But the injunction application was opposed by Britain’s Home Office (interior ministry), which argued that removing asylum seekers could have a substantial impact on the government’s ability to comply with its legal du

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