Migrants have been left "traumatised" and were "scared of being burnt alive" during the Rotherham protests over the weekend, a trauma expert has claimed.
This comes as the UK grapples with huge social unrest after rioters set fire to hotels used to shelter asylum seekers at chaotic protests over the weekend.
Rioters in Rotherham attempted to set alight a Holiday Inn that is being used to house asylum seekers in South Yorkshire.
Speaking to GB News, trauma therapist Sally Baker explained that she sympathises with the asylum seekers living in the hotel.
Sally Baker explained that she sympathises with the asylum seekers living in the hotel
GB News
She said: "They're already traumatised people, aren't they?
"I mean, they've been travelling hundreds, thousands of miles. They've probably come across in boats or in the backs of trucks.
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"Some of these people have been here for a long time now.
"No one is even addressing the trauma of the migrants and what they have to live with. The flashbacks, the fear, and the anxiety that impacts their lives every day.
"And it must have been terrifying to be under siege and not knowing if they were going to be burnt alive in their accommodation."
On Sunday protesters draped in England and Union Jack flags gathered outside the South Yorkshire hotel and then proceeded to begin smashing windows at the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, which is being used to accommodate around 130 asylum seekers.
Objects thrown at the hotel as trouble flares during an anti-immigration riot outside the Holiday Inn Express in RotherhamPAAround 500 anti-immigration demonstrators clashed with police who had a very heavy presence at the hotel.
Objects such as pieces of wood and chairs were thrown at the building and officers.
A group of eight rioters also set the building on fire and blocked an emergency exit, before entering the building where they ran through the corridors and assaulted asylum seekers
South Yorkshire police said at least 10 officers had been injured, including one who was left unconscious with a head injury.
Several police officers have been injured in the riots GettyHorrified asylum seekers watched in terror as the rioters ravaged through corridors shouting obscenities at them.
“They came into this floor and hit me until the police drove them away down the corridor”, one migrant told The Times.
Another said: “I was taking some tea when they ran down shouting ‘f*** f*** f***’. A shirtless man was shouting, and making so much noise.
"They broke the windows. There were eight on my floor, the first floor.”