A major hotel chain has said it was a ‘mistake’ to allow a Homeland Party conference to take place inside its Walsall branch at the weekend.
The Village Hotel at Junction 10 made the admission after a group leader at Walsall Council and Stand Up to Racism made calls for the hotel to apologise.
Cllr Aftab Nawaz claimed that the Homeland Party publicly advocates for sending all ethnic minorities out of the country and is anti-LGBT.
Stand up to Racism said the newly founded political group is a ‘rebranded neo-nazi organisation’ and its remigration policies are ‘nothing more than ethnic cleansing’.
But the Homeland Party has strongly rejected the idea that it advocates for the deportation of all ethnic minorities, ethnic cleansing or violence, and said the hotel did ‘nothing improper’ by hosting the conference.
It said the allegations that they are ‘neo-Nazi’ are false and the Homeland’s policies are based on ‘lawful, democratic reforms, respect for national self-determination, and the rejection of political violence’.
The Village Hotel Club said the booking on September 27 was accepted ‘by mistake’ and once the nature of the event was realised, the police were called to monitor it.
Over a dozen people gathered outside the hotel to protest against the event.
Councillor Nawaz said: “That hotel is used by a variety of public organisations, private and public companies. It’s a hotel that the whole community uses.
“The hotel, at best, made a mistake and needs to sort out its processes, and at worst, somebody knew what was going on and needs to face the consequences of allowing a group that publicly advocates for such nasty things to use the hotel.
“If you’re from a minority community or the gay community, and you work at the hotel, imagine serving a group of people that are very hostile towards you and people of your background.
“We can’t allow public spaces to open up to this kind of nastiness and this kind of hate.”
A spokesperson for Stand up to Racism, who protested outside the hotel on Saturday, said: “The homeland party is not a legitimate political movement – it is a rebranded neo-Nazi organisation peddling racist lies, conspiracy theories and calls for mass deportation of black and brown people.
“Their so-called ‘remigration’ policies are nothing more than ethnic cleansing by another name. When venues like Village Hotel claim to be a ‘politically neutral space’, they risk normalising the politics of hate. Neutrality in the face of racism is not neutrality at all – it is complicity.”
A spokesperson for the Homeland Party said: “Homeland rejects the defamatory and misleading claims being circulated. Homeland is an independent political party with its own leadership, constitution, and programme.
“Allegations that we are ‘neo-Nazi’ or advocate violence, deportation of all ethnic minorities, or ‘ethnic cleansing’ are false. Homeland’s policies are based on lawful, democratic reforms, respect for national self-determination, and the rejection of political violence.
“The Village Hotel did nothing improper in hosting our event. Political parties across the spectrum book such venues. To demand they apologise for accommodating us is to demand they practise censorship, which runs counter to the democratic principle of freedom of assembly.”
A spokesperson for the Village Hotel Club said: “As a company policy, we do not accept bookings from political parties that may cause disruption to our customers, operations or local unrest.
“This booking was accepted by mistake, and as soon as we became aware of the nature of the event, we worked closely with the West Midlands Police who attended and monitored the event and ensured the safety of guests, members and employees.
“All our hotels and the relevant teams are being reminded of the policy and processes in place to prevent this from happening again.”
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