UK government condemns ‘thuggish’ Portsmouth migration protest

Britain’s government has condemned what it called “thuggish” behaviour after hundreds of protesters blocked roads in Portsmouth and vowed to stop asylum seekers from leaving the southern English city.

The demonstration was the second significant anti-migrant protest in southern England over the weekend. On Saturday, large groups of masked men blocked access to the port of Dover. In Portsmouth, social media footage showed protesters, many dressed in black and with their faces covered, confronting police officers carrying riot shields.

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We condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour we saw in Portsmouth last night.

Police formed a security cordon around buses waiting to take the asylum seekers to a processing centre. Officials said the migrants were transported successfully, likely to the Manston arrivals and processing centre in Kent. The Home Office said the right to peaceful protest “is fundamental to our democracy but it must never cross a line into disorder.”

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The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy but it must never cross a line into disorder.

The arrivals followed a report from French authorities that a vessel carrying 140 people had left Baie de Seine in Normandy for England’s southern coast. Small boats rarely arrive in Hampshire, where Portsmouth is located. Most reach Kent, where the Channel crossing from France is shorter.

Donna Jones, Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s police and crime commissioner, said southern England was not prepared if traffickers shifted routes farther west. “If Dover is no longer the destination of choice, and instead there is going to be a spread across southern England, this is a significant issue for the Government,” she told the BBC. Conservative MP Joe Robertson called the crossing “extremely concerning” and said authorities needed to establish whether smugglers were using new routes for larger boats.

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If Dover is no longer the destination of choice, and instead there is going to be a spread across southern England, this is a significant issue for the Government.

Right-wing activist Tommy Robinson associate Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, livestreamed from Eastney beach and said the protesters had blocked the roads so the migrants could not leave. “This isn’t about the numbers being down … this is about understanding that this has to come to an end now,” he said.

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This isn’t about the numbers being down … this is about understanding that this has to come to an end now.