Terrified hotel staff stacked furniture against a door as they barricaded themselves against rioters who had smashed their way into the building.

Workers at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, told the BBC how they had pushed fridges and other furniture against a door to create the makeshift barrier after a mob surged into the hotel on Sunday.

A total of12 police officers were injured during the violence as rocks, fence posts and other missiles were thrown at them, with six people arrested in connection with the disorder, South Yorkshire’s Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield said.

ACC Butterfield said: “It was ultimately a disgusting display of thuggery.”

About 240 asylum seekers who had been staying at the hotel were moved overnight after the clashes between police and a crowd of 700 people.

On Monday, ACC Butterfield said: “Our police dogs suffered minor injuries after missiles were launched at them, and the horses had bricks, eggs, bottles and beer cans thrown at their heads.

“So far, we have had six arrests – one in Sheffield and five in Rotherham – with one person already charged and will be before the court.”

“Please be assured we expect this number to increase significantly over the coming days,” she added.

Meanwhile, ACC Butterfield warned those involved in the violence: “If you were there, we will find you.”

Workers at the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham told the BBC how they had pushed fridges and other furniture against a door to create the makeshift barrier after a mob surged into the hotel on Sunday.

A shaken hotel worker, who did not want to be identified, described the experience as “absolutely terrifying”.

Nobody inside the hotel was injured.

One man who was inside the building as protesters broke in said people were scared for their lives.

Staff members who were working at the site told friends they were “petrified” and that things “went sour fast”.

More than 250 people have so far been arrested following unrest across England and Northern Ireland which has seen shops and businesses vandalised and looted.

On Saturday, there was unrest in Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool and Belfast.

On Sunday, police responded to violent scenes in others parts of the UK, including Rotherham, Middlesbrough and Bolton.

The violence followed an attack in Southport last week in which three girls aged six, seven and nine were killed and five others left in a critical condition, with two adults also suffering critical injuries.

False claims have spread online that the person responsible was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat and a Muslim.

On Monday, Oliver Coppard, the Mayor of South Yorkshire, who is also the county’s police and crime commissioner, said the officers who were hurt in Rotherham had suffered “significant injuries”, including fractures.

He also praised people who had come out on Monday to help with the clean-up effort.

“I’m really proud of the people that have come out this morning and have done what good people do, which is help,” Mr Coppard said.

“We want to come together as community because that’s what the vast majority of people in South Yorkshire want.”

People living next to the Holiday Inn Express told BBC News they had to flee their properties when rioters started fires and broke into their gardens.

Tom Scully, who said this had happened before in previous protests, rescued his pet rabbits from outside in case the fire took hold.

“That’s when they started ripping all these fences apart and getting into next door’s garden, so I took the kids away and evacuated the house.

“As we were coming out with the kids, one of the neighbours got in the garden to try and hose down the fence to try and keep it from taking.”

Mr Scully’s neighbour, Chris Shaw, said rioters stole logs from his property to throw at police.

He said he had been at work at the time, but told his wife to take their cat and leave the property.

Mr Shaw said he was not happy about the asylum seekers living close by, but added that Sunday’s violence was not acceptable.

Visiting the scene of the disorder in Rotherham on Monday, Defence Secretary John Healey praised the “massive turnout of local people” to help with the clean-up operation.

He said: “The local community is weighing in now. We’ve seen hundreds of people down here to help clear up.

“We’ll talk to the residents about the damage they have suffered and the trauma they have suffered.”

Mr Healey, who is also the Labour MP for Wentworth and Dearne, added: “My thoughts today are with those police officers who have been injured.

“The police did a really tough job in tough circumstances. I’ve got nothing but praise for the police officers on the ground.”

Mr Healey said the scenes in Rotherham were “on a scale we’ve not seen before, locally”.

“There was no excuse for this. There will be action taken. There will be a reckoning,” he said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer planned to hold an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday after he called the violence “far-right thuggery”.

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