Police officer punched as masked protesters march through Canary Wharf

A police officer has been punched in the face in Canary Wharf and anti-migrant protesters have gathered outside the Epping Forest District Council building as tensions continue to rise over the use of asylum hotels.

Metropolitan Police said that one of their force was lucky not to suffer significant injury while facilitating the initially “peaceful anti-asylum protest on the Isle of Dogs” on Sunday afternoon.

Later, a group of protesters, including some masked, move into the Canary Wharf shopping centre where a small group became aggressive towards the police.

Four arrests were made following the protest , which saw people gather outside the Britannia International Hotel, which was subject to controversy last month after the Government decided to use it as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, around 200 protesters have marched on Epping’s council offices, where a woman climbed the steps and unfurled a Union flag, before being detained by officers after refusing to leave.

Pictures show angry demonstrators arguing with police and attempting to block a van,

Three people have been arrested, two men and a woman, and remain in police custody. Essex Police said the woman was arrested on suspicion of breaching a Section 14 order, which set out specific areas where the protest could take place.

They added that her arrest was “categorically not for flying the Union flag” as some people had suggested.

The protesters had initially gathered outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, which has become an epicentre for anti-migrant debates after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month. He has denied the charges.

Anti-immigration protesters stood behind metal barriers across the road from the Bell Hotel, holding Union flags and waving at passing cars that sounded their horns. Police officers watched on, with more waiting in vans in surrounding roads.

Essex Police warned that any protest must end by 8pm and must not block the road. Section 60AA and dispersal orders also prevented people concealing from their identity with masks and allowed officers to direct protesters where to leave.

Tensions were further stoked after the government won a court challenge which means asylum seekers can continue to be housed at the Bell Hotel on Friday.

This follows a ruling last week which saw the local council granted an interim injunction which would have stopped 138 asylum seekers from being housed there after the authority claimed that Somani Hotels had breached planning rules by using the Bell as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Epping Forest District Council is set to decide on Monday whether to take its battle over the Bell Hotel to the Supreme Court.

The UK has seen numerous protests as the government is facing mounting pressure to respond to a surge in small boats crossing the English Channel and end the use of hotels to temporarily house asylum seekers..

Protests have taken place in Newcastle, Falkirk, Aberdeen, Gloucester, London and Essex so far this weekend, with five arrests made in west London relating to disorder after two anti-asylum groups marched to the Crowne Plaza hotel in West Drayton.

The Met Police said that a group of masked men attempted to enter the hotel via the rear entrance, while a breakaway protest group moved towards the nearby Novotel on Cherry Lane and towards the Holiday Inn. Officers had already been in place at the scene, with two suffering minor injuries.

Commander Adam Slonecki, in charge of policing London this weekend, said on Sunday – following the Canary Wharf arrests: “This afternoon we have unfortunately seen more disorder, following the five arrests made yesterday in the West Drayton area.

“We had plenty of officers on the ground who moved in swiftly to deal with the criminality that occurred inside and outside the shopping centre. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour.

“Today’s protest saw many community members attend, including women and children, and we worked to ensure the safety of those there to peacefully represent their views. Those who arrive at protests masked and intent on causing trouble will continue to be dealt with robustly at future protests.

“We remain in the area to deter any further disorder and provide reassurance to local residents and businesses.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has accused Reform UK of stoking tensions over asylum hotels as protests continue.

She said “whipping up anger” serves the political interests of Nigel Farage’s party, to which deputy Reform UK leader Richard Tice responded it is “ridiculous” to suggest the party supports anything other than lawful, peaceful protests.

Isak proves Liverpool have changed the Premier League’s power dynamic

It is a show of where power lies. That’s not just in how Liverpool finally added the signing of Alexander Isak to a statement 1-0 victory over Arsenal, but also the manner in which the deal was finally struck.

It was, to quote someone who said similar about the Super League, “an ownership thing”. Fenway Sports Group have a good relationship with the Public Investment Fund, going right back through LIV Golf, and a deal was eventually struck. That is the level we’re talking about. Business and geopolitics came into it.

Sure, pride might initially have been pricked, especially with Isak’s notorious statement. Yassir Al-Rumayyan might similarly be the most powerful official to have ever operated in football, given that he is the chair of Saudi Aramco. The PIF, however, isn’t yet able to exert that power through Newcastle United. Liverpool are still the bigger club, able to spend more money.

Realism had to take precedence over emotion. Isak’s great gambit, and the playbook he followed, eventually paid off. No one can say he was badly advised now. He got the move he wanted.

The reality for the Premier League has also shifted.

The champions are now also the true power. With this signing, Liverpool have done even more than spend around £420m from a position of strength. They have broken the English transfer record twice in this window, to form a Galactico-level attack.

There’s first of all the big names but then their levels and trajectories. In Mohammed Salah, at 33, Liverpool have one of the best players from the last generation. In Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, at 22 and 23 respectively, they have two of the most exciting players from the next generation.

And now, given Isak turns 26 in three weeks, there’s a world star in his prime right now. Arne Slot has both Salah and his successor together in the same team. The very thought is exhilarating for Liverpool and frightening for everyone else.

Some connected to both Manchester City and Newcastle were already referencing Jurgen Klopp’s words from three years ago, that “there are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially” – referring to Newcastle, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

He was talking about state ownership but nothing like Liverpool’s window has really been seen in the English game, at least in relative terms. It’s true top-of-the-food chain spending, in the way Real Madrid used to do. Liverpool would of course have some obvious ripostes.

For one, Klopp’s side repeatedly lost out to City’s financial superiority over six years, but the very spirit of the team ensured they became one of the most admired in the world. That in turn made them one of the most commercially attractive in the world, which has allowed them to “organically” develop this position of financial power. They can claim they’re “due”.

Astute player trading has also ensured they still have a lower net spend than Arsenal in this window in terms of fees, even after Isak arrives. Liverpool’s last published wage bill was £80m higher, but there has also been considerable change there.

Much of this is also from the fact they spent barely anything over 2024. This window would look a lot less bombastic had they signed any of Isak, Wirtz or Ekitike last summer. Liverpool have consequently built up a lot of PSR headroom.

This is a victory of supreme planning, from perhaps the best-run club in football, who have only amplified what was already one of the best teams in football.

Liverpool haven’t done anything like this since the end of the 1980s, and it might offer the symmetry of setting off another glory era. They will surely be going to win both the league and the Champions League in the same season, for the first time since 1984.

This is a project coming to “maturation”. It may not feel very “moneyball” but that is exactly what moneyball is supposed to evolve to. You initially spend cleverly, so you get to the point you can eventually spend more; that you can compete. It is about evolution and growth. A capitalist fund like FSG has successfully grown a prize asset.

There are wider points to be explored. Multiple things can be true at once. You can laud Liverpool’s planning, and how well they’re run, and also have wider discussions about how the game is run.

Financial disparity remains a problem. This, it should be stressed, is not an argument against PSR. That is just a financial constraint, that is essential to the sustainability of the sport.

The problem, as The Independent has long argued, is the system that PSR sits in. It is one where distribution of revenue and talent is grossly unequal, creating this self-perpetuating cycle where there is an ever narrower concentration of wealth.

You only have to look at the way Champions League prize money has been distributed over the past two decades, and especially between the eight crucial years of 2016 to 2024 that traversed the Super League.

As the most prominent example, Leicester City would have been guaranteed a mere £1.5m had they qualified for the Champions League at the end of the 2020-21 season. Chelsea instead pipped them to fourth, and were guaranteed at least £30m. That crowned a period from 1992 to 2018 where over a third of all Champions League prize money went to only 12 clubs – the Super League clubs. The figure is of course even more striking if you include Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

And all this in a world where a series of competition law cases are now questioning both Fifa and Uefa about competitive balance in the sport. Football’s authorities have overseen this system that has fostered such financial disparity. Hence a theme of this summer, where the old big six have signed so many stars from the Premier League’s previously burgeoning middle classes. The Isak transfer represents the culmination of all that. Newcastle are left working around it.

This is consequently something much bigger than Liverpool’s spending this summer, and there are other counter-arguments there, too.

They haven’t even retained the Premier League yet. They’ve still had to make strategic calculations, from who to sell and where to buy. Slot hasn’t got that No 6 midfielder he would have loved in Martin Zubimendi. The imbalance of the squad has already been repeatedly pointed out this season, and this signing further front-loads that sensational attack.

Marc Guehi might also arrive to shore up the defence, but Slot is clearly going for goals; for risk, for rolling the dice. There is a lot to be admired in that.

Rivals like Arsenal or City could have apportioned their budgets in different ways. City instead went for a refresh. Arsenal went for depth. Liverpool have gone for game-changers.

In doing so, they may well have changed the very power structure of the Premier League. That is about more than these famous old clubs. It’s about a new world of owners, and where the power really lies.

Boris tried to meet Queen when he had Covid – the most explosive claims in new royal book

The late Queen’s political leanings and Queen Camilla’s experience of fighting off a sexual assault on a train as a teenager are among several eye-opening claims made in a new royal book.

Penned by former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low, Power And The Palace aims to expose the behind-closed-doors relationship between the monarchy and the government through interviews with a series of senior politicians, civil servants, and royal aides.

Released on 11 September, the book is already making headlines after a number of claims have emerged through excerpts printed in The Times ahead of publication.

Queen Camilla fought off a sexual assault by a stranger on a train when she was a schoolgirl, according to Low’s new book.

Disclosed in a conversation with Boris Johnson, the Queen told of how she took off her shoe and “whacked him in the nuts” with her heel before reporting the incident to the police when she arrived.

Mr Johnson’s former communications director Guto Harri told Mr Low: “She was on a train going to Paddington — she was about 16, 17 — and some guy was moving his hand further and further…”

Mr Harri said after Mr Johnson asked what she did next, Camilla had replied: “I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel.

“She was self-possessed enough when they arrived at Paddington to jump off the train, find a guy in uniform and say, ‘That man just attacked me’, and he was arrested.”

One of the biggest claims to emerge from Mr Low’s new book is her account of Queen Elizabeth II opposed Brexit.

In the book, Mr Low includes details of a conversation between the late Queen and a minister during which she reportedly said: “We shouldn’t leave the EU,” before adding: “It’s better to stick with the devil you know.”

It’s a weighty claim to make due to the monarch’s duty to stay politically neutral at all times, and also contradicts previous reports of her attitude towards Europe.

In 2016, The Sun splashed the headline “The Queen backs Brexit,” reporting that in 2011 she allegedly told then-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg: “I don’t understand Europe.” Press watchdog IPSO later ruled the headline as “significantly misleading” after the Queen complained.

Writing in Power and The Palace, Mr Low said: “On a fundamental level, she saw the EU as part of the post-war settlement, marking an era of co-operation after two world wars.

“If the Queen had had a vote, she would have voted Remain.”

Claims in the book suggest Queen Elizabeth II did not support her son’s campaigning approach to issues such as climate change, including his writing letters to ministers.

Mr Low quotes a palace source who claims her view of the letters was: “Just don’t do it. As soon as you engage in politics, you have an opinion and you pick a side – you cause a part of the population who disagree to take a partial view of you.

“The view of those who want to protect the monarchy was that it had to be even more elevated from the politics. Anything that dragged her into the mud was an unhelpful development.”

It is well known that the monarch is duty-bound to be politically neutral. But in the book, sources told Mr Low the late Queen was more politically outspoken behind closed doors than would be expected.

George Osborne told Mr Low: “I was constantly astonished by how candid she was and that none of this ever came out.

“She’d be very forthright in telling you what she thought of individuals, including members of her own family, and what she thought about things going on in the country.”

Then-prime minister Boris Johnson reportedly tried to meet with Queen Elizabeth II while he was in the early stages of infection with Covid, according to the book.

A previous account of the incident told by Mr Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings reported he had told the PM the move was “insane”.

But a source told Mr Low that Mr Cummings’s exact words were: “You will f***ing kill the Queen. Are you f***ing mad?”

Buckingham Palace have declined to comment.

Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani seriously injured in car crash

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 81, was injured in a New Hampshire car accident, his spokesperson said.

Giuliani’s car was hit from behind on Saturday night, according to Michael Ragusa, his spokesperson and head of security. The 81-year-old was taken to a nearby trauma center, where physicians discovered he had a “fractured thoracic vertebrae,” and multiple cuts and bruises, Ragusa said. He was also injured on his left arm and lower leg.

Shortly before the crash, the spokesperson said Giuliani had been helping a woman who was injured in a domestic violence incident.

“Prior to the incident, he was flagged down by a woman who was the victim of a domestic violence incident. Mayor Giuliani immediately rendered assistance and contacted 911,” Ragusa said. “He remained on scene until responding officers arrived to ensure her safety.”

“Following this, while traveling on the highway, Mayor Giuliani’s vehicle was struck from behind at high speed,” he added. “He was transported to a nearby trauma center, where he was diagnosed with a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg.”

The Independent has contacted the New Hampshire Highway Patrol for more information.

Giuliani’s “business partner and medical provider” were contacted and have since arrived at the hospital to oversee his care, according to Ragusa. The ex-mayor is now “in good spirits and recovering tremendously,” Ragusa added in a post on X.

Giuliani’s son Andrew, who currently leads the White House’s FIFA World Cup 2026 Task Force, urged people to keep his father in their prayers, the New York Post reports. Giuliani’s fellow Republicans have also wished him well on social media.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer posted: “Pray for his recovery.” Conservative podcaster Benny Johnson shared a similar message on X, writing, “Please pray for America’s Mayor.”

He is expected to stay at a Manchester-area hospital for a few more days to undergo tests, and then wear a brace for the broken vertebrae, according to the Post.

Giuliani served as New York City mayor from 1994 through 2001. He later served as President Donald Trump’s lawyer during his first term in the White House, and has peddled false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In January, Giuliani settled with two Georgia election workers who sued him in 2023 for defamation after he falsely claimed the pair had manipulated 2020 election results. A jury awarded the pair $148 million in damages.

Make the most of London this summer with this stadium experience

Whether you’re experiencing London for the first time or you’re a family with kids keen to create unforgettable memories during the holidays, a visit to this world-famous stadium in North London is a must.

After 90 years at their beloved Highbury stadium, Arsenal’s ambitions outgrew their original home and in 2006, the club opened the Emirates. With a seating capacity of over 60,000, the Emirates stadium is one of the largest in England. The sheer scale of this field of dreams must be seen to believed — and thanks to its easy-to-reach location, you can hop on a bus or train and get there in no time.

Once there, Arsenal’s award-winning tours open the doors to parts of the stadium that are usually off-limits to the public. For sightseers who prefer to go at their own pace and for those with little ones who tire easily, the club’s self-guided audio-visual tour is a great option.

Fans and families can take their time to soak in the atmosphere and stroll in the footsteps of footballing legends, imagining the roar of the crowd as you step into the players’ tunnel. Afterwards, feel the tension rise in the dugout and experience the best seats in the house in the directors’ box.

It’s a rare opportunity to glimpse the inner workings of a prestigious football club and explore normally restricted areas that also include the home and away dressing rooms, the media lounge and the exclusive members-only Diamond Club.

Available in seven languages on a state-of-the-art handheld device, the tour is narrated by Arsenal presenter David Frimpong, otherwise known as ‘Frimmy’, as well as featuring commentary from Arsenal legends Alex Scott and David Seaman.

As well as audio, the tour recreates the electric atmosphere of matchday using 360-degree augmented footage and includes brand new interactive elements. You can also take souvenir photos with iconic Arsenal trophies, including that of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The Arsenal Legend Stadium Tour is a more bespoke alternative to the self-guided tour, where visitors can explore the stadium for 90 minutes alongside an Arsenal hero. Tour guides include Nigel Winterburn and Perry Groves, as well as former women’s captain Faye White MBE.

During the tour, the Arsenal legend will share memories, anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories from their time on the pitch, offering a unique insider’s perspective on life at the club. Expect plenty of humour, fascinating insights and a chance to hear back-room gossip straight from the legends themselves. There’s also a chance for a Q&A and photo opportunity with your Arsenal legend of choice.

Included with every tour ticket is entry into Arsenal’s interactive museum situated right next door to the stadium. Chart the club’s evolution from humble origins in Woolwich in 1886 to its modern powerhouse status with a global following of over 100 million fans.

The museum features two impressive video theatres, showing highlights from the club’s origins to the present day as well as twenty major displays of Arsenal’s proud history. Feast your eyes on silverware from the club’s most successful eras, Michael Thomas’s boots from Anfield 1989 and Jens Lehmann’s goalkeeper gloves worn for every league match of the unbeaten Invincibles season in 2003/4.

For lifelong Gooners, it’s a trip down memory lane. For families and tourists, it’s an eye-opening lesson in why football matters so much to the UK and is the perfect outing to experience London at its most authentic.

This content is brought to you by Living360, a digital lifestyle destination keeping you up to date with health and fitness, food and drink, homes and gardens, beauty, travel, finance trends and more.

Trump’s Gaza plan involves ‘voluntary’ relocation of Palestinians

A plan for the post-war redevelopment of Gaza being considered by Donald Trump’s administration would see the region’s Palestinian population paid $5,000 to leave “voluntarily,” according to a report.

The Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, otherwise known as the Great Trust, proposes that the 2 million people currently living in Gaza could be paid to be relocated to other countries or secure zones as part of a deal that would also see them receive subsidies to cover four years of rent and a year’s worth of food, The Washington Post reports.

With the current population gone, the U.S.-administered trust then proposes to clear away the rubble and erect six to eight “dynamic, modern and AI-powered smart planned cities,” boasting multi-storey glass apartment complexes, public parks, golf courses, “world-class resorts” along its Mediterranean beachfront plus electric vehicle plants and data centres.

The plan would also see Gaza divided by a new “MBS Highway,” named to honour Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and another major road built in honor of the UAE’s president Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

The Great Trust blueprint was reportedly drawn up in April by the Boston Consulting Group, run by Israeli-American businessman Michael Eisenberg and Liran Tancman, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, who claim to have taken inspiration from Georges-Eugene Haussmann’s redesign of Paris in the 19th century.

The venture reportedly would be undertaken without U.S. government funding and instead be paid for by joint public and private sector investments, with Israel maintaining its “overarching rights to meet its security needs” in relation to Gaza and internal policing carried out by third-country nationals and “Western” private military contractors until “local” police are trained up and ready to take over the responsibility.

Should the plan ultimately be chosen, it could face opposition from Israel’s Arab neighbor states. Saudi Arabia and UAE have both publicly backed a $53bn alternative dubbed the “Egypt plan,” which would similarly see the region massively redeveloped but without requiring the removal of its current residents.

Trump, a long-time ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has previously mused about an American takeover of Gaza as the best way to end the war and indicated that he considers its redevelopment a golden opportunity for luxury real estate developers, a sector in which he famously made his name prior to entering politics.

“It’s been an unlucky place for a long time,” he said in February. “Being in its presence just has not been good, and it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent – in a really magnificent area.”

The president’s comments drew an angry response from some quarters and he caused further outrage later that same month when he posted an AI video on Truth Social imagining a glitzy future for the strip as a tourist destination if it were to be revamped under his guidance.

The president met with former British prime minister Tony Blair and his own son-in-law and ex-adviser Jared Kushner at the White House last week to discuss the future of Gaza as the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas approaches.

The trio discussed all aspects of the Gaza issue, including escalating food aid deliveries, the hostage crisis, post-war plans and more, White House officials told Reuters.

Transfer deadline day: Liverpool to sign Isak, Donnarumma set for City

Transfer deadline day is here with only a few ours left for deals to be done before the window slams shut at 7pm BST.

Newcastle striker Alexander Isak is finally going to get his dream transfer to Liverpool after the two clubs finally agreed a deal worth £130m. Liverpool have also tabled a £35m bid for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi as their summer spending spree climbs in excess of £400m.

Newcastle have secured one striker signing in Nick Woltemade and are now set to capture Yoane Wissa from Brentford after he urged the west London club to “keep their word” and allow a move away before tonight’s deadline, in a transfer worth £55m for the 28-year-old.

Manchester United are pushing for a new goalkeeper, with Emiliano Martinez keen to leave Aston Villa for Old Trafford and Jadon Sancho poised to go the other way on loan. Antony will be sold to Real Betis for only £20m, marking a huge loss on the Brazilian winger.

Meanwhile at Manchester City, Ederson is set to depart for Fenerbahce with Gianluigi Donnarumma arriving in his place in a £30m transfer.

Chelsea have called off Nicolas Jackson’s loan move to Bayern Munich after an injury to Liam Delap – but the striker is refusing to return to Chelsea, which may lead the Blues to turn to alternatives. Marc Guiu is set to return from his loan at Sunderland to add cover.

And a potentially pivotal summer at Arsenal may not be finished just yet – Piero Hincapie is set to bolster Mikel Arteta’s defensive resources before the window closes and the defender has travelled to London ahead of his proposed loan move from Bayer Leverkusen.

Follow all the latest transfer news and done deals in The Independent’s live blog below.