Teenager allegedly raped at hotel housing asylum seekers in east London
A man in his 30s was arrested at the scene and is now in custody, police said
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A teenage boy has been allegedly raped at a hotel housing asylum seekers in east London.
A man in his 30s was arrested at the scene and is now in custody, the Metropolitan Police have said.
A child, who is under the age of 13, has also been allegedly sexually assaulted at the same site in Walthamstow.
The report comes as the embattled home secretary Suella Braverman visits Dover amid criticism over overcrowding at Manston immigration centre.
The site has reached around three times its capacity because the Home Office has failed to move asylum seekers into hotel accommodation.
However, fresh concerns about the safety of the hotels have arisen after the police confirmed they were investigating two incidents of sexual assault at the east London hotel.
On top of the rape allegation, police officers are investigating a separate incident of alleged sexual assault of a child.
A man, believed to be aged 17, has been charged with one count of sexual touching of a child under 13, the police said.
He was bailed by the court to appear at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on 9 November. The charge relates to an incident at the hotel in September.
Police said the victim is being supported by specialist officers.
Officers were called to the same hotel in Waltham Forest in October to reports of a rape.
The force said in a statement: “Officers attended and spoke to the victim, a boy in his teens, and his family. Specialist support is being provided.”
The man in his 30s, who was arrested at the scene, has been bailed to return on a date in early January next year.
The hotel houses around 150 children alongside 250 adults, The Guardian reported.
Grace Williams, leader of Waltham Forest Council, said that the “two very serious sexual attacks against children illustrate that these hotels are not safe places for young people”.
She added: “We have written to the home secretary asking for immediate action on safeguarding to prevent further harm.
“These are vulnerable children often moved thousands of miles placed in cramped hotels for months on end without adequate support in place.”
She said that councils were doing all they could to protect these people “with little or no warning of large numbers of asylum seekers placed in their areas”.
Councillor Williams has written to Ms Braverman to express “major concerns” at the “lack of safeguarding” at the hotel.
She said that following a meeting with Home Office officials, she was “not assured that there is a safeguarding plan in place to protect children and vulnerable adults in the hotel”.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils across England and Wales, warned this week that the government needed to urgently act to sort out the “unacceptable crisis” of children asylum seekers in hotels.
Labour MP Stella Creasy raised her fears about the east London accommodation at the centre of the allegations in the House of Commons on Monday, saying that up to eight people were squished into one room at the accommodation block.