Furious protesters hammered on the gates of a small boat migrant processing centre chanting ‘send them back’ in Dover this afternoon.
There were tense scenes as around 50 demonstrators – many of them women and some accompanied by their children – confronted police guarding the Western Jet Foil facility opposite Lord Warden House.
The processing centre, which serves as an entry point where health checks are conducted before the migrants are moved to Manston asylum centre in Kent, has been closed for days for urgent repairs.
But the Union Jack and St George flag-waving group seemed unaware of this fact as they voiced their frustration outside.
One woman repeatedly berated police officers clad in high vis with a megaphone, calling them ‘traitors’ and ‘scum’ for defending the asylum seekers.
Meanwhile, there were farcical scenes when a Flixbus full of tourists bound for the nearby ferry terminal were confronted by protesters demanding they ‘go back home’Â
Eventually, the crowd dispersed, allowing the coach driver to get through.
A convoy of agitators had earlier made a slow march from The Golden Lion pub to the port, forcing traffic on the A20 to slow to a crawl as they chanted ‘Enough is enough, send them back,’ and ‘Keir Starmer is a w***er.’
Protesters stop a coach as they gather outside a processing centre for migrants in Dover, Kent today
The Union Jack waving group were unaware the centre had been closed for days for urgent repairs
There were tense scenes in Dover as around 50 demonstrators descended on the streets of Dover
Clad in a pink tutu and a St George flag, with ‘Enough is Enough’ tattooed on her leg, carer Kerryanne Jones was one of those protesting against government immigration policy.
The mother-of-four, 50, said: ‘I’ve been coming to these for five or six years because my home is being invaded by immigrants and we need to stand up for our women and children.Â
‘We are raising awareness and getting as many people to join us as we can because we need to stop the boats.’
Speaking outside The Golden Lion, Amelia Randall, 40, a UKIP councillor with Kent County Council, claimed that voters were turning to her party after losing faith with Nigel Farage’s Reform.
She said: ‘Reform constantly changes their mind on what they are going to do. Nigel Farage was against mass deportations and now he thinks they are possible.Â
‘But if you want to stand by your country you have to stand by what is right. He just wants to get elected.’
Activist Harry Hilden, 29, has formed the National Emergency party in Faversham, Kent, to voice his anger at the small boat migrants.
He said: ‘Everyone has had enough of this invasion from these Third World countries.Â
A woman blows a horn while protesting against immigration in the town of Dover, Kent
Women stand with banners which read: ‘Stop The Boats’ and ‘Enough is Enough’ in Kent
A group of people march while carrying Union Jack flags in Dover Kent today
‘These are not women and children, it’s an invasion of military-aged men. Scabies and TB is running rampant and there’s sexual abuse against women and children.Â
‘We have homeless on the streets and yet we are paying to house these people. The whole country is at boiling point.Â
‘We are trying to keep it civil and lawful but how much can you take?’
Meanwhile, France’s version of MI5 and scores of police mobilised to repel a planned ‘D-Day style invasion’ by British vigilantes protesting against small boat migrants today.
The French authorities imposed a sweeping ban on gatherings between Calais and Dunkirk on Saturday, and threatened to arrest and deport anyone arriving from the UK.
British protest leader Daniel Thomas, an ex-convict banned from France after harassing charity workers last month, appeared to have slipped into the country via Belgium.
But his boasts that his self-styled ‘Operation Overlord’ would draw more than 15,000 ‘proud Englishmen’ to France to ‘stop the boats’ proved delusional.
In fact, just one thousandth of his predicted volunteer army arrived – and rather than slashing any dinghies or demonstrating at a migrant camp, his band of around a dozen followers simply gathered on a beach and waved flags.
A group of people wave Union Jacks from an anti-immigration protestÂ
Some demonstrators have ‘Enough is Enough’ tattoos on their lower legs
However French authorities, who had been appalled by attention-seeking visits to beaches and migrant camps by Thomas and fellow ‘right-wing patriots’ late last year, which were then posted online, were not taking any risks.
According to critics, French officials seemed markedly more concerned by the arrival of British protestors than they are by the tens of thousands of migrants setting off for England in dinghies every year.
As well as large squads of Police Nationale officers and gendarmes, those looking to stamp out British protests around Calais included ‘multiple members of the DGSI’, or General Directorate for Internal Security.
This is France’s principal domestic security service, and operates in much the same way as MI5 does in Britain.
‘Plain-clothes DGSI officers were out in force along the northern coast, and looking for British troublemakers,’ a senior law and order source told the Mail on Sunday.
‘They supported police and gendarmes in making sure there was no large-scale invasion.’
Prefectures in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais areas of France also issued orders prohibiting any members of groups such as Raise the Colours (RTC) – a group Thomas split from last week, hours before he and nine of its members were banned from France – from operating over the weekend, citing ‘serious risks to public order’.
A French official statement read: ‘British nationals belonging to these movements, who are checked by law enforcement, will be returned to the border as quickly as possible.’
Elsewhere in the port town, demonstrators march in front of a large yellow lorry
The statement referred to the group adhering to ‘a xenophobic and anti-immigration ideology that creates a clear risk of public disorder.
‘State services, particularly the internal security forces, will be fully mobilised to ensure the proper implementation of this order, with the aim of protecting migrants, who are often victims of exploitation by smuggling networks, and guaranteeing the safety of everyone on the coast.’
Thomas had claimed he would rally ‘thousands of British patriots’ for a special mission named after the D-Day operation of 1944, saying grandiosely that they would be arriving by ‘land, sea, and air’.
But by lunchtime on Saturday, he had only managed to post social media pictures of around a dozen men brandishing Union Jacks on a French beach, while claiming others had stopped at the border.
The deputy mayor of dinghy-departure hotspot Gravelines, near Calais, Alain Boonefaes, said: ‘These men have no right to come and try to enforce order in France.
‘They’re British, and they should maintain public order in their own country, not in France.
‘They have no right to come and intimidate and threaten anyone. They have no right to do this.’
The Raise the Colours group – which gained a profile last year by leading the campaign to fly the Cross of St George and Union flags from lampposts first in the Midlands, then across Britain – late last year began sending groups of up to half a dozen men to France to ‘stop the boats’.
A group of demonstrators wave flags and banners as they protest against immigration in Dover today
Police watch as protesters take to the streets of Dover in what has been dubbed Operation Overload by organiser Danny Thomas
They claimed to have found a dinghy buried in sand dunes, and slashed it before it could be used by migrants – and also posed for social media posts with other dinghies destrpoyed by police.
But they also filmed themselves shouting foul-mouthed abuse at migrants, female French journalists and charity workers – even falsely accusing the charity workers of being in charge of the dinghy voyages.
In December the Daily Mail saw them warned off by officers after flying a drone close to the nuclear power station at Gravelines, and attempting to pose as members of the press.
But their aggressive behaviour last week led to ten French travel bans being issued.
Without naming any of those banned, a statement from the Interior Ministry read: ‘Ten administrative bans from the territory have been imposed on British nationals, identified as activists within the Raise the Colours movement, who have carried out actions on French territory. Entry and residence in France are now prohibited for them.’
Members of Raise the Colours, and Thomas – who calls himself ‘Danny Tommo’ – face criminal prosecution for ‘threatening and assaulting’ those working with migrants.
A key incident that worried French authorities involved two nurses and support staff working with Médecines Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) – the international humanitarian charity – who complained of being attacked by the group in December.
Michaël Neuman, head of MSF’s migration unit, said the banning orders ‘were expected.’
A group, organised by Danny Thomas, protesting in Calais as part of Operation Overload
‘We had sent a letter to France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez France’s Interior Minister to express our concerns, because we are very aware of the danger posed by these groups,’ Mr Neuman explained.
‘These measures must not be exceptions but must become the norm so that nothing goes unpunished.’
A spokesman for Dunkirk prosecutors said ‘multiple complaints about the [Raise the Colours] movement’ were under investigation, and could result in prosecutions.
A French National Police spokesman for the area also confirmed ‘numerous complaints,’ particularly around the beaches of Dunkirk and Calais.
Many of these complaints were backed up by the British activists’ own images, including videos, which they proudly post on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube, while asking for donations, said the spokesman.
Under French law ‘violence’ extends to verbal insults, and other forms of intimidation.
Most of the complaints about Raise the Colours came from ‘local charities and human rights groups,’ said the police source.
A spokesman for the Utopia 56 migrant support group said: ‘Every time they’ve come, we’ve reported them.’
In a statement, Raise the Colours claimed its activities were peaceful and it ‘does not support violence or any unlawful activity’, despite videos clearly showing leading Raise the Colours figurehead Ryan Bridge shouting and swearing at migrants and charity workers.
It describes itself as a ‘grassroots movement for unity and patriotism’, but following its split from Thomas last week, it had disassociated itself from his sudden plan to bring ‘Operation Overlord’ forward, saying there were concerns volunteers could be put in danger.