Protests · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Hundreds of Protesters Block Roads in Portsmouth After 140 Migrants Arrive From France
Around 140 migrants arrived by boat from France, prompting hundreds to block Portsmouth roads. Protesters clashed with police for hours, with demonstrations described as thuggish by the government.
Whether Daniel Thomas led the protests.
8 of 12 outlets skipped it: protesters aimed to stop transport to Manston processing centre.
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BBC
“Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo – an associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson – was livestreaming from the scene.”Read the original ↗
NBC News
“Both groups appeared to be led by Daniel Thomas, an ally of veteran far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson.”Read the original ↗
NBC attributes leadership; BBC describes livestreaming, a less direct role.
Portsmouth protest after boat
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Portsmouth late on Sunday after around 140 migrants arrived in the city aboard a small boat that had crossed the English Channel from France, and demonstrators blocked roads near the waterfront to stop the people who had arrived from leaving.
“around 140 migrants arrived in a single dinghy that had crossed the English Channel”
Hampshire Police urged people to avoid the Eastney Landing ferry port area, where the migrants were brought ashore, and said a dispersal order was in place meaning anyone failing to comply could be arrested.
Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo and described as an associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, livestreamed from the scene and said, "Roads are all blocked, they are never going to be able to leave here."
The government condemned the protests, with a spokesperson saying, "The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder."
Clashes, policing and leaders
Sky News reported that protesters chanted "stop the boats" and "send them back" in Portsmouth, with items thrown at police, as a police dispersal order was in place until Monday evening.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on X that Andy Burnham had struck an agreement for 45 more officers on French beaches and said, "This is a joke. Only Reform will send the boats back."
HuffPost UK said the government condemned the protesters as "intimidating and thuggish" and quoted a government spokesperson saying, "We condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour we are seeing tonight."
NBC News described the demonstrators as facing off with police in Portsmouth late Sunday and trying to block buses carrying the new arrivals to a processing facility for asylum seekers.N
What happens next
The Portsmouth protest followed a day after masked protesters disrupted traffic at Dover, blocking routes to the busy ferry port and halting ferry traffic between France and the UK, according to DW.
“Donna Jones told the BBC her primary concern was that Portsmouth did not become a "destination of choice for people traffickers"”
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones told the BBC her primary concern was that Portsmouth did not become a "destination of choice for people traffickers".
The BBC also reported that Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron met to discuss how to "scale up" efforts to reduce small boat crossings, and that 16,513 people arrived in the UK in small boats in the year to 1 September.B
NBC News said the government’s stepped-up law enforcement cooperation between Britain and France helped reduce the number of people making the crossing so far this year by more than 40% compared with 2025, while the Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said lifeboats, a coastguard helicopter and a plane were involved in the operation to bring the migrants to shore.N