London: Following an anti-immigrant demonstration at a hotel housing asylum seekers on Sunday, where protesters threw fireworks and set a police van on fire, UK police charged a teenager with violent disorder and assault.

After making 15 arrests in connection with the clashes on Friday evening in Knowsley, near Liverpool in northwest England, Merseyside Police announced that they had charged 19-year-old Jarad Skeete with assaulting a medical professional.

According to police, the altercations started when troublemakers showed up at a planned protest by refugee advocacy groups outside the hotel.

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They arrived as a record number of migrants are crossing the Channel in small boats to the UK. Skeete, who is from a suburb of Liverpool, was remanded in custody and would appear in court on Monday, according to the police, while 14 other suspects were released on conditional bail pending additional investigation.

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The far-right Patriotic Alternative protested outside a hotel earlier this month, but the organization denied organizing the demonstration.

A man allegedly made "inappropriate advances" toward a 15-year-old girl nearby, according to rumors spread on social media, which the police said was used as "an excuse to commit violence."

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The violence was denounced on Twitter by Interior Minister Suella Braverman, who stated that "alleged behavior of some asylum seekers is never an excuse for violence and intimidation." Braverman supports a divisive government proposal to deport Channel-bound asylum seekers to Rwanda.