‘I blame the French’: How Portsmouth became the latest migrant flashpoint

A damaged Border Force vehicle, its windscreen smashed, is the only remnant of disorder that flared during Sunday’s anti-migrant protest near Portsmouth’s Eastney marina. A few hundred yards up the road, two police cars remain stationed outside the RNLI lifeboat charity station. Forty-eight hours earlier, around 140 migrants were brought ashore here from a mega-dinghy – sparking a demonstration of about 200 anti-migrant protesters, many wearing balaclavas. Shorts ‘People dressed in balaclavas is wrong’ One local resident described how staff at a nearby restaurant were trapped until 1am and officers were hit as a “swarm” of demonstrators tried to block three coaches taking the asylum seekers to a processing site in Dover. “The police wanted to keep the gate open, and there was some person running around and shutting it. They got tackled to the ground. It was non-stop,” she said. “I’m not really on board with it personally. I’m more into people having a chance to make a better life.” The protests were branded “pretty appalling” by a man, originally from Portsmouth, who wished to remain anonymous. Police speaking to anti-migrant protesters in the water at Eastney near Portsmouth (Photo: Barry Williams/PA) “I don’t know what the general public think, but obviously people dressed completely in black, or balaclavas, whatever might be wrong, that’s not right,” the 73-year-old said. Hampshire Police Federation chair Spencer Wragg said seven officers were assaulted during the disturbances, with a “plethora” of injuries caused. Two were pushed off their motorbikes, while a new recruit who had finished training school only three days earlier had stones and bricks thrown at them, he said. No arrests were made at the time, but are expected to follow in the coming weeks and months, he added. RNLI volunteers targeted Volunteers at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – the RNLI – who were called out to rescue the migrants – have also been targeted for abuse by anti-migrant demonstrators. Photos and names of two rescuers have been posted on social media alongside hostile messages. Andy Bates, 62, said RNLI volunteers were “there to save lives. If they’re required to go out and save lives, then regardless of whether they’re immigrants or not, that’s what they need to do”. He saw three fire engines, ambulances and coastguard vehicles pull up at the marina on Sunday, and was warned by another local to stay inside as protesters were massing. He said: “A fence was in the road and all the concrete posts. A good 15 metres [had been smashed down]. The protesters’ argument was they were here to block the road [taking] the immigrants. But they [the authorities] wanted the coaches to take them to Kent, so they would have taken them anyway. It didn’t make any sense to me.” For him, the fault lies elsewhere, however. “I blame the French. The French should be stopping them.” Peter Ellis, 70, who lives in a boat on the marina, said he was stopped by the police as protesters tried to block the road as he drove home. “I heard it all night. It was tough,” he added. On the protests, he said: “There are migrants and migrants. We get men who are just violent, and men who aren’t – who are just simply getting out of the country they come from.” Portsmouth resident Peter Ellis, who lives on a boat in the marina, heard disruption throughout the night ‘We need a plan for new smuggling tactics’ Officers from forces outside Kent and Hampshire were drafted in to assist the local constabularies on Sunday. Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones has called for the Government “to ensure the southern coast of Britain is secure to prevent this from happening again”. There is concern that as criminals launch boats from further west in France, more areas on the southern UK coast could become small boats flashpoints. Amanda Martin, Labour MP for Portsmouth North, said the city was “not equipped” to process small boat arrivals. She called for Government to show how it planned to “adapt for new tactics by people smugglers and stop new routes emerging”. Police cars outside the RNLI station in Eastney However, some Portsmouth residents supported the protests. Rachel Parsons, 31, said that while she did not condone violence, protesters “had every right. People don’t want it here, don’t want them in the country”. She is concerned more boats could end up in Portsmouth if smugglers target areas further down the coast from Kent. She added: “It’s scary. I’ve got two young boys as well, and it just makes you think as a parent.” ‘People have got to take a stand’ Luke Wilson, 44, was fishing in his boat and saw coastguard and RNLI boats arriving at the harbour – where tents had been set up to process asylum seekers. He said of the protest: “I think people have got to stand up. I disagree with smashing stuff up. That’s not right. But people coming down and standing their ground and going, ‘We don’t want this’ – because if it happens once, it will happen again.” A group calling itself “South Coast Patriots” has called for a “peaceful march” in the city on Saturday. Far-right activist Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, a former bodyguard of Tommy Robinson and the head of an anti-immigration group Patriot Platform, has also vowed to take more action. He was a leader of Sunday’s protest, and a demonstration by masked men in Dover on Saturday. A man believed to be Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, standing in the water livestreaming the operation to rescue around 140 migrants (Photo: Barry Williams/PA) Thomas, 37, a convicted attempted kidnapper, filmed himself running into the water as he urged supporters to rush to the area. Nicholas Dorrington, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Eastney on Portsmouth City Council, said: “I would imagine last night there were some very scared people on all sides. I would imagine that some of the protesters had a lot of fear of people coming into the country illegally and what that could look like. “And I would say that the RNLI had a lot of fear last night of what may happen to them and the repercussions that may happen to them for just trying to save lives.”