Rival demonstrations took place in Falkirk on 15 August 2026, almost a year after clashes first erupted outside a hotel that had been used to house asylum seekers. Anti-immigration group Voices for Falkirk gathered outside the Cladhan Hotel under the banner "The Right Unites", while Falkirk For All and Stand Up To Racism held a separate unity march through the town centre. The two sides briefly converged near a bandstand before police moved in to separate them and the crowds dispersed.
According to local reporting, the 15 August event had been framed in advance as a direct confrontation between a far-right rally and a counter unity march, with organisers on the anti-immigration side specifically targeting the area around the Cladhan Hotel in their messaging.
Officers were deployed in numbers to prevent a repeat of the disorder seen at a separate protest in Glasgow the previous month, when 15 people were arrested after anti-racism and anti-immigration demonstrators clashed on Glasgow Green, with police using horses and batons to break up the disorder. That followed an earlier incident in June 2026, when a masked far-right group disrupted an anti-racism rally in Glasgow amid a wider spell of race-related tension, and a protest outside a Greenock hotel housing asylum seekers in which two men were arrested and three officers were injured. Separately, in March 2026, police had to separate rival groups during an anti-immigration rally and counter-demonstration at Holyrood, though no arrests were made on that occasion.
Is the Cladhan Hotel still housing asylum seekers?
It is understood the Cladhan Hotel is no longer being used to accommodate asylum seekers, a position confirmed as of 15 August 2026. The building was the site of repeated confrontations last summer, drawing hundreds of protesters from both sides and resulting in several arrests, and demonstrations have continued intermittently in the year since, even after residents were relocated elsewhere.
Who took part in the unity march?
The pro-immigration demonstration set off from Callendar House and drew around 200 participants as it moved through Falkirk town centre. Karen Morrison, an organiser with the Unison union in Forth Valley, said the march was intended to rebuild a sense of community following the previous summer's unrest.
"I understand why people are angry," she said.
"But they are angry at the wrong people. Asylum seekers are not to blame for the ills of our society, social housing, jobs; we need to go back into communities to help people understand that."
"We want to send a message of hope, that things can get better and we don't need to be fighting each other."
What role has the Home Office played in the hotel's use?
Falkirk Council has stated that the Cladhan Hotel was operated by the Home Office and the Mears Group, with the council itself having no say in who was placed there, how it was run day to day, or how it was funded, according to a council statement. The same statement said the Home Office covered the full cost of accommodation, meals and allowances for residents, and the council had made an equivalent statement disclaiming responsibility for placement and funding decisions back in August 2025.
Home Office figures cited in earlier coverage showed that 6,587 people were seeking asylum in Scotland as of 31 March 2026, with more than half of them based in Glasgow.
What has driven anger in the local community?
Tensions in Falkirk were significantly inflamed by the case of Sadeq Nikzad, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who was jailed for nine years at the High Court in Livingston in June 2024 after raping a 15-year-old girl in the town during an attack in October 2023. More recently, Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, a former resident of the Cladhan, was jailed for four years on 10 August 2026 after sexually assaulting two women in Falkirk in November 2025.
Separately, court records show that Graham Grubb, identified as an organiser of the anti-asylum protests, was fined in March 2026 for abusing a police officer, according to an earlier broadcast report.
At the 15 August demonstration, anti-immigration protesters set up flags and banners opposite the hotel. One protester, speaking to reporters, called for the UK to withdraw from the UN convention on refugees and to introduce mandatory jail sentences for people crossing the English Channel to seek asylum, adding that the issue had continued to divide communities.
What happens next?
Police Scotland's planning for further demonstrations of this kind in Falkirk remains ongoing, though no specific date for a follow-up protest or decision has been confirmed in reporting so far.
Key Facts
- Rival protests were held in Falkirk on 15 August 2026, a year after the first Cladhan Hotel clashes.
- The Cladhan Hotel is no longer used to house asylum seekers, though protests have continued regardless.
- About 200 people joined the Falkirk For All unity march from Callendar House.
- Sadeq Nikzad was jailed for nine years in 2024, and former Cladhan resident Muhammad Sheikhi was jailed for four years on 10 August 2026.
- Home Office figures show 6,587 asylum seekers were in Scotland as of 31 March 2026, over half in Glasgow.
