Activists will take to the streets to protest against plans to reopen hotels in the city housing asylum seekers.

Protesters will gather outside Brighton Town Hall tomorrow evening at 6pm to demonstrate against the decision by the Home Office to house asylum-seeking children in a hotel in Hove where 136 children went missing.

Leaked internal memos, obtained by the Observer, revealed that the notorious hotel would reopen as early as tomorrow to begin housing refugee children who arrived in the UK without parents or carers.

Some 50 children are still missing from the hotel, with 11 arrested by police in other parts of the county - predominantly for drugs offences.

One of the children was reportedly forced into slavery, according to police.

The news comes as a letter, seen exclusively by The Argus, revealed that capacity at two other hotels housing refugees in the city will be increased.

One hotel used to accommodate families will have its capacity expanded by almost 50 per cent, while the other - housing adult male asylum seekers, will see its number of beds almost double.

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Brighton and Hove City Council has threatened to take legal action against the Home Office to block the move.

Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey, who is the former director of refugee charity Detention Action, said she was shocked but not surprised by the decision.

She said: “I think it’s shaming, I think it’s scandalous and I think it shows how broken this government is.

“The fact that so many children remain missing is of huge concern to this administration and we are going to continue working with the police to do everything we can to support them in finding these children.

“I have always been very clear that the Home Office’s practice of standing up hotels for children is despicable. It is cruel and negligent and I think that it’s unlawful.

“I don’t think that the Home Office has the legal power to do this and I think they are acting outside of the law - that’s why I have instructed lawyers to investigate this and bring a judicial review against the Home Office.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We have been clear that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable - there are currently more than 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6 million a day.

“We are safely and legally optimising the use of existing space to make more efficient use of hotels, to save taxpayer money whilst continuing to ensure arrangements are safe for hotel residents and local people.”