They Sell Anger: We Show Up. 1 in 5 Food & Solidarity Members Were on the Streets on Saturday
They Sell Anger: We Show Up. 1 in 5 Food & Solidarity Members Were on the Streets on Saturday
This is What Community Looks Like
Last Saturday, the day several anti-migrant groups tried to mobilise in our city, DiverCity Hub became the site of what organising looks like in practice. 60+ food parcels were packed and handed out, we ran communications lines between people on the ground and our safe space, we organised briefings, and we ensured members could attend the counter demonstration in a group so no one had to face the day alone. 40 F&S members headed down from the west end to join many more in the city centre. We left behind a safe space, accessible to members of the community, which we ran throughout the day providing hot drinks, snacks, and crafts. At least one-fifth of our membership were on the streets that day. That turnout is not noise: it is real capacity on the ground.
Why the Hotel? What is Happening There?
The people living in the New Bridge Hotel include adults and unaccompanied children who were placed there under Home Office accommodation contracts for the North East. The hotel is owned by Gainford Group, who also own Aveika on the quayside (these are just two of their many assets). Aveika is where Advance UK held their launch party, before attempting to march with UKIP to the New Bridge Hotel, potentially to try and recreate scenes we saw in the summer of 2024, a story that is currently playing out elsewhere in the UK. The New Bridge Hotel is managed under contract by Mears plc, which holds the regional Home Office asylum accommodation contract and subcontracts day-to-day management to hotel owners and to many landlords across the region. Mears are rarely held accountable for their failings by Newcastle City Council (like most landlords, but particularly larger ones). Many Mears-run properties are in very poor condition, and we have been forced, on a number of occasions, to take action against them: once when a family (our members) were living with damp affecting their health, and once when they refused to stop evicting people into homelessnes. Providing appalling accommodation is clearly a decent business: Mears Group has posted a 5% rise in pre-tax profit to £32m. It might not need stating, but if these large landlords are able to get away with treating asylum seekers this way, then they will definitely also do the same to you and to your loved ones.
“Aw, these pictures make me wanna cry, I’m so proud of our community and so proud of today’s turnout.” — Member (anonymised)
Who are the people heading up Advance UK?
On Aug 26, 2025 Elon Musk publicly posted that “Advance UK will actually drive change.” Quote tweeting a post from Tommy Robinson that tagged the party's leader Ben Habib. Ben Habib is a lead figure in Advance UK, but he is also a super rich landlord and investor, who runs First Property Group, among many, many other companies. Right-wing activists including landlord Tommy Robinson have promoted the project, and investigative reporting has raised questions about aspects of Robinson’s company registrations, which include the fact his ex-wife has been banned from running a company. Separately, Tommy Robinson has been found guilty of fraud and a great deal of other criminal activity. Interestingly, Advance UK, who are on record as incredibly hostile to immigration, chose to stage their launch in Newcastle at Aveika (which, as we mention above, is owned by the same company who own the asylum hotel protestors have been targeting) after being forced out of the Crowne Plaza by public demand.
Elon Musk, a key supporter of Advance UK, and champion of drastic reduction in public spending, has repeatedly received funds from large public subsidy programmes in the US (via his firms such as Tesla.) Musk's father was a millionaire by the age of 30 in apartheid South Africa and has confirmed his part in the emerald mining industry, which allowed men like him to grow wealthy off the low-paid labour of Black Zambians. It is impossible to become a billionaire without exploiting workers. Such facts show how political projects can be connected to property and extraction interests; you can draw your own conclusions. Those protesters we were able to see on Saturday and who we were able to engage have far much more common ground with Food & Solidarity members than with these bizarre and unfathomably wealthy figureheads. They are right to be angry but that anger is being misdirected by these millionaires and billionaires who remain unsatisfied, despite their unimaginable wealth and power, and want to take away the few things the working class have left because they profit from our division and our work. They have always been prepared to perpetrate and incite violence to do so, and this is what we see playing out on our streets.
“I felt really supported to attend… it was great to know we were all looking out for each other.” — Member (anonymised)
What was the Police Role on the Day?
The police draw criticism in summer 2024 for seemingly standing back and allowing rioters to have free rein. We'd been told lots of information in the days coming up to the march, about the powers that police would have, and the ground was constantly shifting. Ultimately, on the ground the police kettled and pushed back some counter-protesters, injuring some; several people were arrested, one person was left concussed and another suffered a broken finger. Members reported that these police actions were explicitly aimed at allowing the anti-immigration march to proceed. When it was blocked at the quayside, police re-routed it, until it was permanently blocked after counterprotesters forced a police line, short of the New Bridge Hotel and held there until police ordered everyone to disband. The anti-immigration protesters were then walked back to the train station, back to where they came from, by a slowly advancing police line. Although in reality most had drifted away, some protesters we came across, wandering lost, wrapped in tatty union jacks, were overheard complaining that they “didn’t understand why they were going to the hotel anyway”, in estuary accents.
“I didn’t attend as part of the group, but receiving updates throughout the day felt supportive and reassuring.” — Member (anonymised)
We Did the Practical Work that Day Because Practical Organising Protects People.
We did the practical work that day because practical organising protects people: food, briefings, phone checks, 'know your rights' training, stewarding, and ensuring we went everywhere in a group. If you’re tired of being told insecurity is the result of personal failings, there is a different course: organised, collective action that shows up when things get hard.
“Thank you very much for looking after my son today.” — Member (anonymised)
Quick Facts
- 60 food parcels distributed from DiverCity.
- At least one-fifth of our membership were on the streets that day.
- Gainford Group owns the New Bridge Hotel (reported turnover ≈ £35m).
- Advance UK was publicly amplified by Elon Musk; Ben Habib (First Property) is a lead figure; reporting has raised questions about Tommy Robinson’s company registrations; Advance UK held a launch at Aveika (also owned by Gainford Group) after being forced out of the Crowne Plaza.
- Police kettled and pushed back counter-protesters; several arrests and injuries were recorded.
