Anti-immigration protest erupts in UK after hundreds of migrants arrive by boat

Around 140 migrants were brought ashore in Portsmouth after an unusually long Channel crossing, triggering a protest near Eastney Landing. Hundreds of protesters blocked the road and clashed with officers.Hundreds of demonstrators gathered near Eastney Landing on Sunday evening and blocked the road leading away from the marina. (Screengrab: X)A new flashpoint over illegal small-boat crossings has emerged in southern England after around 140 migrants reached Portsmouth aboard a single dinghy. Their arrival has sparked a major anti-migrant protest in Portsmouth.Hundreds of demonstrators gathered near Eastney Landing on Sunday evening and blocked the road leading away from the marina. They were trying to prevent authorities from taking the migrants to the Manston processing centre in Kent. Police in riot gear formed a line around several coaches waiting to transport the migrants. Protesters blocked the road and clashed with officers, causing traffic to grind to a halt.Lines of riot police with batons and shields are now in Portsmouth.To stop boat loads of invaders entering our country?Of course not.Useful idiots are against locals trying to stop the invasion. pic.twitter.com/PDTN6dPFkj— Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra) September 6, 2026WHY DID THE PORTSMOUTH PROTEST ERUPT?The protest was sparked by the arrival of the migrants, who were brought ashore after making an unusually long journey across the English Channel. Demonstrators said they wanted to stop the group from being taken to a processing centre in Manston, Kent. Video from the scene showed protesters chanting "stop the boats" and "send them back" as they confronted police and tried to prevent the migrants from leaving on waiting coaches.Chants of "send them back" rings out in Portsmouth as patriots block in coach loads of invaders destined to be dumped into our communities after just jumping off a boat!Tents were set up and coaches waiting?The government is facilitating the whole thing.High treason! pic.twitter.com/396IrPxDfD— Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra) September 6, 2026According to BBC, Daniel Thomas, an associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, livestreamed from Eastney and said: "Roads are all blocked, they are never going to be able to leave here." The government condemned "the intimidating and thuggish behaviour" of some protesters.A government spokesperson said: "The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder." The demonstration was the second major anti-migrant protest in southern England within two days. On Saturday, hundreds of masked men dressed in black blocked roads around the Port of Dover, disrupting traffic and forcing road closures while chanting "stop the boats". The migrants arriving in Portsmouth reportedly come primarily from countries in the Middle East and East Africa.WHY WAS A POLICE DISPERSAL ORDER IMPOSED?Hampshire Police urged people to avoid the Eastney Landing ferry port area and imposed a dispersal order until Monday evening. Such an order gives police additional powers to break up groups when officers believe their behaviour is causing harassment, alarm or distress. People who refuse to comply can be arrested.Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said emergency services needed support from forces elsewhere because of the scale of the Portsmouth demonstration. UK Treasury minister Emma Reynolds said the protesters had gone beyond legitimate peaceful demonstration."As a politician, I absolutely support the right to peaceful protest," she told Sky News. "But this has crossed the line. This is thuggish and intimidating behaviour."WHY WAS THIS CHANNEL CROSSING UNUSUAL?The Portsmouth arrival was unusual not simply because of where the boat landed, but because of where the journey began.French authorities said about 140 people set off overnight from the western part of the Baie de Seine in Normandy. That is roughly 170 miles from the French coastline around Calais, where many small boats typically begin their journeys.French authorities described the departure point as "unusual for the area". The longer route meant the boat spent significantly more time at sea.French rescue boats shadowed the dinghy for about 10 hours to respond if it got into difficulty, but the French coastguard said it was not safe to intercept the vessel while it was at sea. The boat entered UK waters around noon, where lifeboats from Bembridge and Yarmouth met the passengers and brought them ashore.The route is significant because authorities believe people smugglers may be changing tactics to avoid increasingly robust policing around Calais and other traditional launch points.COULD SMUGGLERS BE CHANGING THEIR TACTICS?The Portsmouth crossing has raised concerns that tougher policing around the Strait of Dover could be pushing smugglers towards longer and potentially more dangerous routes. The summer crossing numbers have fallen to their lowest level since 2019, but smugglers appear to be putting more people aboard fewer, larger vessels, sometimes described as "mega dinghies".In August, a record 230 people crossed the Channel aboard a single small boat.Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the issue last week, agreeing to "scale up" efforts to tackle the crossings. Downing Street has also said 45 additional police officers will be deployed on French beaches as part of a "surge team" targeting larger boats carrying more passengers.The Home Office said more than 48,000 crossing attempts had been prevented and 1,100 boats and engines seized since the election, while a new payment-by-results agreement with France is intended to put 40 per cent more officers on French beaches.WHAT DOES ARRIVAL MEAN FOR THE UK GOVERNMENT?The shift towards Hampshire has raised concerns that migrant arrivals could spread beyond the heavily monitored Dover area.Joe Robertson, Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, called it "extremely concerning to see an illegal migrant crossing this far west", given that boats have traditionally landed closer to Dover.Jones warned that Portsmouth must not become a "destination of choice for people traffickers"."The government has invested heavily into Dover - the operation down there... is significant in terms of the holding centre, the processing, UK Border Force," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme."We have hundreds of miles of coastline across southern England, and 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 added.The arrival also comes as the overall number of small-boat crossings remains contentious. A total of 16,513 people arrived in the UK in small boats in the year to September 1, which is 43 per cent less than during the same period a year earlier.- EndsPublished By: Satyam SinghPublished On: Sep 7, 2026 18:50 IST