A group of masked anti-immigration protesters gathered outside a Portsmouth hotel after mistaking Pakistan’s under-19 cricket team for asylum seekers.
Around 40 people reportedly descended on the Marriott hotel on Tuesday evening after rumours spread that a coach carrying a large group of foreign men had arrived.
The visitors were not asylum seekers. They were teenage cricketers representing Pakistan during an official tour of England.
The crowd dispersed within minutes after Reform UK councillor George Madgwick confirmed the group’s identity and told those assembled: “You’ve got it wrong guys, it’s a cricket club.”
The extraordinary error has prompted the England and Wales Cricket Board to check on the welfare of the young players and review security arrangements for the rest of their tour.
Rumours spread about coach arriving at hotel
Speculation began after local people saw a coach dropping approximately 40 men at the four-star hotel.
The group’s appearance, along with claims that the coach company had previously transported asylum seekers, appears to have been enough to convince some people that migrants were being housed there.
A crowd subsequently formed outside the hotel, with many of those present wearing balaclavas or other face coverings.
Madgwick, who leads Reform’s group on Hampshire county council and represents the ward containing the hotel, said residents contacted him and asked him to investigate.
He travelled to the Marriott and spoke to its manager, who explained that the guests were members of a touring Pakistan cricket team.
Madgwick also met the team’s coach and said he was shown proof confirming who the players were.
He then went outside to address the protesters.
“You’ve got it wrong guys, it’s a cricket club.”
The crowd reportedly left within a couple of minutes.
The Times reported that there was no direct interaction between the protesters and the players.
Reform councillor calls incident ‘massively unfortunate’
Madgwick described the incident as “massively unfortunate” and accepted that the sight of masked protesters gathering outside a hotel because foreign visitors had arrived reflected badly on Portsmouth.
He initially published a Facebook post urging people not to travel to the area.
“There were reports that possible migrants were staying in the Marriott hotel. I can confirm that is NOT the case. Please don’t attend the hotel.”
Madgwick later made the post private after it began attracting abusive comments.
The Reform councillor said he could understand why some residents were on alert following the arrival of asylum seekers in Portsmouth and the disorder witnessed in the city days earlier.
However, he acknowledged that gathering outside a hotel based on the appearance of its guests was “far from ideal”.
He said the episode did not make Portsmouth look like the welcoming city he believed it to be, while arguing that it reflected the heightened atmosphere surrounding immigration.
Pakistan’s under-19 team was touring England
The visitors were members of Pakistan’s under-19 cricket squad, who have been playing a series of matches against England’s young players.
They had recently completed a four-day Test against England Under-19s, losing a close match by 10 runs.
The squad was using Portsmouth as a base while playing further fixtures at Arundel and Guildford.
Pakistan’s senior men’s team is also in England, although it is a separate squad playing a Test series against the full England side.
The presence of an international youth team at the hotel was therefore entirely routine. Teams playing at Arundel regularly use accommodation in and around Portsmouth.
After learning about the incident, the ECB contacted the Pakistan Cricket Board to check on the wellbeing of the squad.
Security arrangements for the remaining matches and the team’s accommodation are also being reviewed.
Incident follows disorder on Portsmouth coast
The mistake came only two days after hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Eastney beach following the arrival of a small boat carrying asylum seekers from France.
Many members of that crowd were dressed in black and had covered their faces.
There were clashes with police, and officers are investigating reports of potential assaults and criminal damage.
A related demonstration had taken place around the port of Dover a day earlier, where protesters blocked roads for several hours.
Far-right activist Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo and closely associated with Tommy Robinson, claimed responsibility for organising both protests.
The heightened tensions help to explain how an unverified rumour was able to attract dozens of people to the Marriott. They do not explain why the ethnicity of hotel guests was apparently treated as evidence that they were asylum seekers.
A mistake that could have ended very differently
The Portsmouth incident ended without a prolonged confrontation. The protesters accepted the explanation they were given and quickly left the area.
That peaceful conclusion does not remove the seriousness of what happened.
A visiting group of teenage sportsmen became the subject of suspicion simply because they arrived together, appeared foreign and travelled on a particular coach.
Nobody outside the hotel appears to have checked the claim before masked protesters began assembling.
The players may not have faced the crowd directly, but the ECB’s decision to examine their security shows that the episode cannot be dismissed as a harmless misunderstanding.
The misinformation also placed hotel employees and local residents in an unpredictable situation. Had Madgwick not intervened promptly, or had the crowd refused to accept his explanation, the outcome could have been more serious.
The incident provides a stark example of what can happen when rumours circulating through local networks are acted upon before basic facts are established.
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