Violent protests flared up across the UK on Sunday, spurred by false rumors about the teen suspected of stabbing three children to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last week.
Right-wing protesters clashed with police and counter-protesters at the Holiday Inn Express Rotherham in South Yorkshire, which houses migrant asylum seekers.
More than 100 people arrested so far in the rampage that has spread across Britain.
Harrowing images from the Rotherham hotel shows the mob of hundreds hurling trash cans and other heavy projectiles at officers defending the building, with the protesters setting fires beside the Holiday Inn and shattering windows.
At least one officer was injured during Sunday’s clash and was seen limping away with the help of another cop. Several protesters were spotted spraying police with fire extinguishers until they made it inside the hotel’s lobby.
The crowd could be heard chanting, “Get them out” as people staying at the hotel watched the chaos unfold below them, The Telegraph reports.
Counter-protesters from the Stand Up to Racism group were initially at the scene, but reportedly left the area when the chaos unfolded.
It remains unclear if there were any asylum seekers inside the hotel or if it had been evacuated following previous protests, according to the BBC.
“The safety and security of our guests and colleagues is always our priority,” IHG, the company that owns Holiday Inn Express, said in a statement.
A separate protest has broken out in Middlesbrough with more than 300 people marching on the streets after breaking free of a police barrier and smashing taxis in the town center.
British police have issued orders of dispersal on Sunday in Southport, Liverpool and Bolton, where other protests have broken out.
The protests broke out last week after viral posts from far-right groups on social media claimed – without evidence – that the 17-year-old arrested for killing three little girls at a dance class was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Police have said the claims are incorrect and that the suspect was born in Britain.
The suspect, identified as Axel Rudakubana, was born in the UK to parents who emigrated from Rwanda — a nation that is more than 90% Christian.
Despite the clarification, the protests have continued, with the Rotherham migrant hotel at the epicenter of the violence.
