Police condemn anti-immigrant protest at Portsmouth port
British officials denounced a masked protest in Portsmouth that attempted to block the arrival of migrants from a Channel crossing, warning that illegal actions will be prosecuted.
Police in southern England said a group of masked demonstrators gathered at a Portsmouth port on Sunday to stop lifeboats from bringing migrants ashore after they crossed the English Channel. The protesters also tried to block buses transporting the arrivals to an asylum-seeker processing centre, prompting a police investigation into assaults on officers and damage to official vehicles.
"Disorder of any kind will never be tolerated and those who cross the line from peaceful protest into illegality will face the full force of the law," said policing minister Sarah Jones.
The incident followed a similar blockade in Dover the previous day, where masked anti-immigration activists disrupted traffic to the ferry terminal. Both actions were reported to be coordinated by Daniel Thomas, an associate of far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson.
The boat that arrived in Portsmouth had departed from Normandy, a longer route than the usual crossings near Calais, and carried roughly 120 migrants, according to a statement to Parliament. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency confirmed that lifeboats, a coastguard helicopter and a plane were used in the rescue operation. Home Office data showed that eight vessels brought a total of 625 migrants to the United Kingdom on Sunday.