When Anita bought her house in the upmarket town of Epping, she dreamed of a happy retirement enjoying the nature surrounding her. What she did not bargain for was her Essex home becoming a battleground of anti-asylum seeker protests and counter-demonstrations in July 2025. Most protests that followed were peaceful - and protesters argue they were a force for good. The case sparked a wider conversation about the effect of housing asylum seekers in hotels in British communities. "Overnight, our local social media platforms went from people seeking lost cats to the most vitriolic, horrible things," recalls Anita.