How anti-migrant boat protests were organised, and who was behind them
Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
At a glance
Analysis
Named sources
Ongoing story
- Hundreds of people joined anti-migrant protests in Dover and Portsmouth over the weekend, with demonstrators blocking roads and a migrant coach route.
- The BBC identifies anti-migrant campaigner Danny Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, as the organizer linking the two demonstrations.
- Thomas has promoted a group called Patriot Platform and urged supporters to pursue “mass resistance” without violence, while police and Border Force decisions helped bring protesters to the Portsmouth landing site.
Two anti-migrant protests in southern England over one weekend shared a common organizer, the BBC reports. In Dover, men wearing black clothing and balaclavas blocked the town’s main roads for several hours. In Portsmouth, protesters tried to block coaches carrying migrants near the Eastney Landing ferry area.
Christ is King!
The link was Danny Thomas, better known as Danny Tommo, an anti-migrant campaigner from Hayling Island near Portsmouth. The Dover protest followed what appeared to be weeks of planning during the summer. Thomas was also present in Portsmouth, where he used social media to mobilize local supporters after Border Force chose Eastney as the landing site for a boat carrying migrants.
The boat had made an unusually long crossing of the English Channel from the Baie de Seine. The Eastney landing stage is also where the passenger ferry to Hayling Island departs. The BBC says the choice may have reflected ignorance or incompetence, but it made it easier for Thomas to bring people to the area late on Sunday.
Stop the boats!
Thomas says he is a Christian, and demonstrators in Dover shouted “Christ is King!” alongside “Stop the boats!” He first attracted public attention in 2016, when he received a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to attempting to kidnap Graham Page at knifepoint. After leaving prison, he became a close associate of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Robinson has supported the weekend protests, although the two now appear less close.
something is about to go down and men from all round the country will be involved in it
Over the past year, Thomas has filmed himself harassing migrants on French beaches and posted the footage online. In July, he announced Patriot Platform, which calls itself a movement of “the sons and daughters of this island” seeking to “take our country back.” In a video apparently filmed in north-west England, Thomas told supporters that “something is about to go down” and that a successful action would spread across the country. He also urged discipline and argued against creating a violent movement because, he said, supporters would be arrested.
Once we pull this off it will snowball in the entire country
About this summary
Originally published by BBC News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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