English anti-migrant agitator arrested after slashing boat at sea

Far-right protester Daniel Thomas appeared to film himself boarding the rescue dinghy while a charity worker was still aboard.MANCHESTER, England (CN) — British police arrested anti-migrant agitator Daniel Thomas after footage he posted appears to show him using a knife to slash an inflatable dinghy in the English Channel while an emergency responder was still aboard.Hampshire Police said Thursday officers arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of “criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life and conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals.”He was also arrested under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990 on suspicion of destroying ships or fixed platforms or endangering their safety.Police said he remained in custody Thursday.Thomas, who uses the name Danny Tommo, appears to have livestreamed the incident Tuesday as he followed two small boats carrying asylum seekers from northern France toward the southern coast of England.His footage appears to show him approaching an inflatable dinghy after the asylum seekers had been taken to safety.A French rescue worker then boarded the dinghy before Thomas shouted, “Get off the boat. You’ve got time to get off the boat.”Thomas later appeared to film his own arrest.After an officer told him he was being arrested, Thomas responded, “I understand. I knew this was coming.”Masked protesters disrupt southern EnglandThe arrest brings a criminal case against Thomas as his profile has grown around a series of anti-migrant protests in southern England.Thomas founded Patriot Platform this summer, bringing together several nationalist and anti-migrant groups.He was a prominent figure at protests in Dover and Portsmouth earlier this month.In Dover, hundreds of masked demonstrators blocked a major road serving the Port of Dover, causing traffic delays and disrupting access to the port.The following day, demonstrators gathered in Portsmouth after about 120 asylum seekers arrived nearby following a Channel crossing.Protesters blocked roads in an attempt to prevent buses carrying the group from leaving the area.The unrest also drew attention to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the British charity whose volunteer crews operate lifeboats and rescue people in danger at sea.Anti-migrant protesters accused the charity of helping migrants reach Britain.The charity has rejected that characterization, saying its crews respond when directed by the coast guard and rescue people in danger at sea without deciding whether they have the right to enter the U.K.On Tuesday, the association said two of its lifeboats had been tasked to a small boat crossing that had already been in the waters for 36 hours.The charity said coast guard officials later directed its crews to remove people from the dinghy because of concerns about their safety and deteriorating health.“We are a voluntary lifesaving rescue service,” the charity said. “We will rescue anyone in trouble at sea, as we have been doing for more than 200 years, without judgment or preference.”Far-right activists have targeted the charity.Its Portsmouth lifeboat station has remained out of service since Sept. 10 while security arrangements are reviewed.The charity also advised some volunteers and staff to consider not wearing its branding after some of its volunteers were subjected to abuse and intimidation.Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate, a group that monitors extremism in Britain, said the Dover and Portsmouth demonstrations had attracted “some of the more aggressive and more violent of the far-right activists from around the country.”The protests come as the number of people seeking asylum in Britain has fallen.Government figures released in August showed about 86,000 people claimed asylum in the U.K. in the year ending in June, a 21% drop from the previous year.Small boat arrivals fell 23% to about 33,000.Who is Daniel Thomas?Thomas has longstanding links to far-right, anti-Muslim agitator and convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, and has worked with him on previous protests.Thomas grew up around Portsmouth and attended a private school. He also has a previous criminal conviction.In 2016, Thomas pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping after he and two other men went to a home armed with knives and tried to force a man from the property after wrongly accusing him of stealing drugs.He was sentenced to two years in prison.Thomas is separately facing five charges after pleading guilty in August to entering a restricted area of the Port of Dover while trying to film asylum seekers arriving from the English Channel.The remaining case is due back in court in October.French authorities also barred Thomas and nine others from entering France in January, citing their involvement in actions that authorities said could incite violence and disturb public order.Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads