What was claimed
A mob of 460 masked rioters recently stormed migrant hotels in Rotherham and Tamworth.
Our verdict
False. South Yorkshire and Staffordshire police forces confirmed this didn’t happen.
False claims about rioters recently storming migrant hotels in Rotherham and Tamworth circulate online
Social media posts with thousands of likes claim 460 masked rioters recently stormed migrant hotels in Rotherham and Tamworth.
But this isn’t true. Both South Yorkshire and Staffordshire police forces confirmed this didn’t happen.
The almost identically-worded posts from April this year are captioned: “A ferocious mob of 460 masked rioters just launched a savage assault on migrant-filled hotels—barricades smashed in seconds, police lines crushed, officers retreating under a hail of bricks, fireworks and raw fury across Rotherham and Tamworth streets!”
The posts claim locals “turned protests into full war” resulting in “six elite police units [being] trapped and forced back under relentless attack”.
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But no such incidents have occurred. South Yorkshire Police, who cover Rotherham, said they could “100% confirm this didn’t happen” while a spokesperson for Staffordshire Police, which covers Tamworth, described the claims as “completely false”.
Hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth were attacked by rioters during the 2024 summer riots, which saw an estimated 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots take place across 27 towns and cities in the UK. However, there is no evidence of any such incidents occurring recently.
Many of the posts include images from the 2024 riots, or other old photos from a 2025 Tommy Robinson rally, England football fans in Trafalgar Square in 2021, the 2011 riots and even ICE protests in the US.
It’s important to rely on sources that are trustworthy and verifiable when sharing content you see on social media. Our toolkit has tips on how to do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because both South Yorkshire and Staffordshire police forces confirmed this didn’t happen.