PA MediaHundreds of protesters gathered in Portsmouth on Sunday night after around 140 migrants in a single dinghy were rescued in the English Channel.
In the second major anti-migrant protest of the weekend, police faced off with demonstrators as they blocked roads in an effort to stop the people who had arrived on the small boat from leaving the city.
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.
The government condemned “the intimidating and thuggish behaviour” of the protesters, many of whom were dressed in black and wore masks.
Protesters said they were trying to stop authorities transporting the migrants to the Manston processing centre in Kent.
Police carrying riot shields protected a number of coaches parked on a road leading away from Eastney Marina as protesters blocked traffic.
Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo – an associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson – was livestreaming from the scene.
“Roads are all blocked, they are never going to be able to leave here,” he said.
A government spokesperson said: “The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder.”
“We thank the emergency services who are working to safely manage this situation.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on X: “This week Andy Burnham struck an agreement for 45 more officers on French beaches. Today a boat launched from Baie de Seine, 170 miles from Calais, arriving on the beaches of Hampshire for the very first time. This is a joke. Only Reform will send the boats back.”
The protest came after a large group of masked men held a demonstration over the small-boat crossings at the Port of Dover on Saturday, causing a major disruption.
Days earlier, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron met to discuss how to “scale up” efforts to reduce small boat crossings.
In August a single small boat carrying a record 230 people successfully crossed the Channel.
The latest dinghy launched in Bay of the Seine and was shadowed for around 10 hours by French rescue boats in case it got into difficulty. The French coastguard said it was not safe to attempt to stop the dinghy on water.
It reached UK waters at lunchtime and the people on board were met by lifeboats from Bembridge and Yarmouth.
French authorities said it was unusual for the migrant boat to depart from the area – 170 miles from where they are commonly launched near Calais – making the crossing to the UK significantly longer.
On Saturday, hundreds of protesters, dressed in black and wearing face coverings, blocked roads near the Port of Dover and were heard chanting “stop the boats”.
A council boss said police were slow to react to the “exceptionally well organised” protest.
Kevin Mills, who leads Dover District Council, told the BBC that demonstrators “caught several agencies on the hoof” when they arrived on Saturday.
Kent Police is yet to comment, but cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said officers “did deal with it swiftly”.
Last year local officials told the BBC there has been an increase in people trying to depart from Normandy.
Earlier on Sunday, a Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is bearing down on dangerous small boat crossings and restoring control at our border.
“Joint efforts have seen over 48,000 crossing attempts prevented and 1,100 boats and engines seized since the election.”
They added: “But we must go further, which is why we have signed a payment-by-results deal with the French to put 40% more boots on the ground on French beaches.”
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: “In response to a report on September 6 of a small boat heading towards the Hampshire coast, HM Coastguard sent lifeboats, an HM Coastguard helicopter, an HM Coastguard aeroplane and HM Coastguard Rescue Teams.
“Border Force, Border Security Command, Hampshire Police and South Central Ambulance Service were also sent.”
In bilateral talks on Thursday, Burnham and Macron agreed they were making headway in reducing small boat crossings in the English Channel but now needed to go further.
While the number of boat crossings over summer months has dropped to its lowest since 2019, smugglers appear to have started loading more people onto fewer, larger vessels dubbed “mega dinghies”.
It’s thought the people smugglers organising the crossings have been forced to go to much greater lengths to avoid detection following more robust policing in the Calais area.
Between 1 January and 1 September 2026, a total of 16, 513 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France.
Downing Street says 45 extra police officers are being deployed to French beaches in a “surge team” to tackle larger dinghies with more people packed onto them.
