‘You’ve got it wrong guys’: UK’s anti-immigrant protesters mistake Pakistan U19 cricket team for asylum seekers

Pakistan’s Under-19 cricket team was mistakenly identified as asylum seekers by masked anti-immigrant protesters outside their Portsmouth hotel. The confusion was resolved after officials clarified the team’s identity. The England and Wales Cricket Board is reviewing security arrangements for the tour

New Delhi: A bizarre chapter unfolded outside a Portsmouth hotel, where the Pakistan Under-19 team was based during their multi-format tour of England, when a group of masked anti-immigrant protesters mistook the team for asylum seekers.

According to a report in The Guardian, a group of masked protesters gathered outside a four-star hotel in Portsmouth after reports that a group of asylum seekers had been taken there. George Madgwick, a Reform councillor who was called to the hotel to mediate between staff and the assembled crowd, said it was a “massively unfortunate incident”.

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The incident followed a clash between hundreds of people, many wearing balaclavas, and police in Portsmouth on Sunday evening, after a small boat carrying asylum seekers reached the UK coastline from France.

Madgwick said the group gathered outside the hotel after reports that about 40 men who did not appear to be English had arrived at the hotel, and that the coach which took them was from the same company, which moved the asylum seekers who had come by boat.

The “massively unfortunate incident” was brought under control when Madgwick spoke to the hotel manager, who explained that the hotel was hosting members of an under-21 cricket team from Pakistan touring the south coast and using the Marriott as their base.

“I also spoke to the coach of the team, who was very understanding,” Madgwick was quoted in the report. “I went out to the protesters and told them, ‘You’ve got it wrong guys, it’s a cricket club.’ They left within a couple of minutes.”

Since the incident, the England and Wales Cricket Board has contacted the Pakistan Cricket Board to check on the well-being of the touring group and is “reviewing security arrangements for the remainder of the squad’s tour.”

The team played England Under-19s in a four-day Test last week, losing by 10 runs, and will play a one-day game against the same opponents on Wednesday at Arundel. A final one-day game is scheduled for Saturday in Guildford.