A protest in Manchester erupted into scenes of violence on Wednesday night (July 31), with a man dragged off a bus and assaulted and rocks and bottles pelted at riot police.
Demonstrators first turned out in large numbers outside the Holiday Inn hotel on Oldham Road at around 6pm. A group of around 40 people, including children and young men wearing balaclavas, gathered outside the premises in what appeared to be a stand against asylum seekers currently being housed in the hotel.
Chants of "we want our country back" and "shame on you" were yelled by the group, some of whom were parading cardboard banners around, as glass bottles were hurled at police vans, with eggs also smashed in the road. READ MORE On the streets of Southport they're heartbroken and horrified The group quickly grew in number, with young men loitering around the area on electric bikes and mopeds wearing face coverings yelling expletives and speeding past the protest.
It took just minutes for tensions to build, with the group then spilling out onto busy Oldham Road, jumping in front of passing cars, pelting innocent motorists with beer bottles and charging at police officers who began swiftly arriving in droves.
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