Six people have been arrested after anti-migrant protesters gathered at a marina in Hampshire in the mistaken belief that a small boat was due to arrive.
Heeding calls from the far-right campaigner Daniel Thomas, hundreds of protesters gathered early on Tuesday evening at Gosport in Hampshire, aiming to disrupt any disembarkation of asylum seekers. The Border Force vessels carrying them landed instead in Dover early on Wednesday.
Thomas, who styles himself as Danny Tommo, spent Tuesday afternoon in a speedboat in the Channel broadcasting his pursuit of the asylum seekers to more than 100,000 people.
He is facing a police inquiry after using a blade to slash an inflatable dinghy in the Channel while a rescue worker was onboard.
Hampshire police said two men from Salisbury, aged 19 and 36, had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass; and four people from Gosport – two men aged 33 and 67, and two women aged 31 and 32 – were held on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.
The 67-year-old was also held on suspicion of careless driving.
Police are “conducting inquiries” into footage of Thomas slashing the side of an inflatable boat while a member of a rescue team was still on it, then sailing away shouting: “Traitors.”
The arrests were made after unions representing Border Force staff discussed security concerns with the Home Office following increasingly aggressive tactics by anti-migrant activists.
The discussions followed attacks on Border Force vehicles and attempts to record and identify staff members by some anti-migrant activists.
The Home Office plans to use public order powers to stop the harassment and possible doxing of government staff who pick up small-boat arrivals at sea.
Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration Services Union, said: “Following several conversations with the ISU regarding staff safety, the Home Office is working with local police and MoD [Ministry of Defence] to ensure that staff, and migrants, are properly protected using existing police powers and civil service support networks.”
Fran Heathcote, the general secretary of the PCS union, which represents Border Force guards, said: “PCS unreservedly condemns this life-threatening and criminal behaviour. Our members do an important and dangerous job and this inference is reckless in the extreme.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have been clear that groups creating fear and intimidating communities cannot be allowed to operate with impunity.
“Police should make full use of the powers available to them to deal robustly with criminality and ensure communities, staff and those in their care are protected.
“Recent events demonstrate the need to learn lessons and adapt our response to new tactics, ensuring police have the tools, intelligence and operational plans needed to act quickly and effectively.”
Some of the protesters in Gosport wore black clothing and face coverings, and chanted “send them back”, wrongly assuming the boat would be guided to the Hampshire coast.
In fact, it docked in Dover, Kent, at about 12.30am on Wednesday after 51 people onboard reportedly refused help from a French ship and spent 33 hours at sea.
It emerged on Tuesday that a second small boat had arrived on UK shores within the last 24 hours without being detected and intercepted.
The boat reached Samphire Hoe, near Dover, on Tuesday afternoon. Border Security Command has detained 21 migrants so far.
On Monday, five people were detained and passed to Border Security Command after a dinghy made it to shore at Folkestone, also in Kent.
The defence minister Luke Pollard dismissed suggestions the government had lost control of the border.
“Our borders are secure, but we want to make them stronger,” he told LBC Radio, adding that a Home Office investigation was under way into what had happened.
A man was found dead on a beach in northern France on Wednesday, French authorities have said.
In a translated statement, a spokesperson for the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said: “The lifeless body of a man, who appeared to be of African origin, was discovered this morning on the Neufchâtel-Hardelot beach.
“An investigation has been launched.”
A total of 17,480 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel by boat so far this year, including 5,011 since Andy Burnham became prime minister.
The total so far for 2026 is down 46% on the same point last year.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has ordered a review after the Border Force failed to intercept a second dinghy in two days. A government spokesperson said on Wednesday: “Border Security Command officers alongside Kent police have been responding to an incident in Dover.
“Twenty-one individuals have already been detained under a swift enforcement response. There is a thorough investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
