A mother of five shared her fear of becoming ‘the next Lucy Connolly’ after being arrested during an anti-immigration rally near the Epping District Council offices.

Sarah White was detained by multiple officers and placed in a police van after waving a Union Jack flag on the steps of the building on Sunday.

The police indicated that her arrest and subsequent confinement in a police vehicle were due to her not complying with the protest limitations, which drew in hundreds of participants.

Sarah is instrumental in the movement against asylum seekers residing in The Bell Hotel. The protests were triggered by the sexual assault of a girl by a hotel resident, who was later convicted.

Recently, Epping District Council declared it would appeal to the Supreme Court to close the Bell Hotel, following the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a temporary High Court order that required the 138 asylum seekers to vacate by September 12.

The owner of a dog care business, who identifies as a candidate for Reform UK, disclosed her fear while in police custody, describing how she heard constant ‘shouting and screaming’ throughout the night.

Describing the moment, the van began driving away, she told The Telegraph: ‘It’s like, am I going to be the next Lucy Connolly? Because I’ve done nothing wrong. What is going on here?’

While her daughter was ‘distraught’, her son questioned her, asking if she really needed to continue protesting against the migrant hotel. But Sarah was adamant that she must go on for future generations. 

‘I feel compelled to carry on,’ she said. ‘Getting arrested is ultimately not what I want. I don’t want to be away from my children. But ultimately, if I don’t stand up then who [will]?’ 

Previously, Sarah was apolitical and didn’t always head out to the polling stations, but, since feeling a threat on the ‘freedom of choice’ since COVID, she has catapulted herself into politics, claiming she has signed up to become a Reform candidate. 

Discussing how there was no Reform option last Summer, she said: ‘I had that urge inside me. Right, if there’s no one to do it, I’ll do it. I came straight home, filled out the form.’

Describing Reform voters as a ‘diverse’ group of people, she proudly added: ‘It’s all women in our Epping Forest branch.’ 

And although Nigel Farage has made a bid to great distance between Reform and the far-Right label, White doesn’t shy away from it, saying they aren’t far Right but doing ‘what’s right’. 

‘I don’t care if someone labels me as far-Right because what they’re saying is irrelevant and they’re only words’ 

Adding how she was not a Nazi nor ‘looking to kill people’, Sarah maintained she sought to protect her community. 

‘How can that label me as far-Right? If as a mother you want to stop women and children getting sexually assaulted…’ 

It comes after the mother-of-five gave her first interview to the Daily Mail just minutes after being released from custody on Monday, where she dubbed her arrest ‘an absolute disgrace. 

‘I am considering legal action against the police. I was one click away from my arm being broken. It’s disgusting,’ she said at the time.

‘I cannot believe what happened. I believe I was targeted and they wanted to make an example of me.’

She added: ‘I had given a speech about how Epping residents will plan to refuse to pay our council tax because the migrants are still at the hotel.

‘Minutes later, I placed the flag at the council office. At a lot of the protests we’ve been there. That’s been part of it.’

The mother claimed she was ‘manhandled by several officers’.

‘I’ve only just been released, it’s nearly been 24 hours,’ Sarah, who has now been bailed, said.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said her arrest was ‘categorically not for flying a Union Flag’, but because the Civic Centre was not an area where protesters were allowed. Two other men were arrested on the same night.

Sarah added: ‘I’m still in a state of shock. I knew they would hold me for nearly 24 hours.’

She added: ‘I feel like a political prisoner in a way. They tried to make an example of me.

‘I will not stop expressing my view and sharing concerns. I am still campaigning.

‘When I was in the van, I heard on the radio that the female prisoner should be de-arrested. That was me. I thought I was being released.

‘Then there was another call to say change of plan, and I was taken into custody. It’s been unbelievable.’

Earlier that evening, protesters stood behind metal barriers across the road from the Bell Hotel, waving at passing cars that sounded their horns.

Police officers watched on, with more waiting in vans on surrounding roads.

The Daily Mail has approached Reform UK and Essex Police for further comment.