Six arrests during anti-migrant protest in Gosport

British police announced that they had arrested six people during an anti-migrant demonstration on Tuesday September 23 in the south of England which protested against the arrival of a boat of migrants, finally diverted to another port after 36 hours of crossing. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Gosport, near Portsmouth, after learning that a makeshift boat was on its way from France, according to British media.

Intercepted by the British Coastguard

Several men dressed in black, some with their faces covered, were at the head of the procession, where the crowd chanted “Send them home,” according to the British news agency PA. But instead of arriving in Gosport, the boat, which was carrying 51 migrants, was intercepted by the British coastguard and taken to Dover, around 200 km further east, after a crossing of some 36 hours.

When they learned the boat would arrive elsewhere, some protesters "became hostile towards the police", leading to the arrest of four men and two women, Hampshire Police said in a statement. A far-right activist, Daniel “Tommo” Thomas, very active on social networks and organizer of other anti-migrant demonstrations, had broadcast live images of the progress of the boat in the Channel and had called on his sympathizers to gather upon its arrival.

Increased departures from Normandy

Anti-immigration rallies, sometimes violent, are common in the United Kingdom, where boat arrivals across the Channel are a central subject of political debate. Faced with the tightening of measures taken by the French and British authorities, migrants wishing to reach the United Kingdom have adopted new strategies, in particular by using larger boats and taking new routes further west to cross the Channel.

Departures are notably on the rise from Normandy, in particular from the department of Seine-Maritime, where 56 departure attempts have been recorded since the start of the year, the prefect of Normandy, Jean-Benoît Albertini, said on Friday. The boats left so far from the French coast further north to arrive in Kent in England, where the distance between the French and British coasts is shorter.

The British Home Office indicated in early September that the number of crossings recorded in August had fallen to its lowest level since statistics began in 2018, while the number of migrant arrivals was also at its lowest level since 2020. According to Home Office data as of Sunday, 17,480 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats since the start of the year.