Small boat protest explained: How a Channel crossing sparked unrest

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Portsmouth after a boat carrying about 140 migrants was brought ashore in Hampshire.

Demonstrators blocked roads in an attempt to stop coaches carrying the migrants from leaving the city on Sunday night, following a separate protest at the Port of Dover the previous day.

Hampshire Police said a small number of officers were injured and vehicles were damaged, with an investigation now under way to identify those responsible.

The government said people had a right to peaceful protest but condemned "intimidating and thuggish behaviour" at the demonstration.

Migrants picked up in the Channel are usually taken to Dover for initial checks.

But the dinghy involved in Sunday's crossing had launched much further along the French coast, near Cherbourg in the Bay of the Seine - roughly 170 miles from Calais and further west than boats normally depart.

A journey to Dover would have added four to five hours to a crossing that had already taken about 10 hours, and would have taken lifeboats away from their usual coverage area.

Border Force and the Coastguard decided instead to bring the group ashore at Eastney Landing in Portsmouth, using lifeboats from Bembridge and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.

Migration analysts say people smugglers may be experimenting with new departure points to avoid a heavy police presence in Calais and Dunkirk.

Portsmouth City Council leader Steve Pitt said the authority had not been consulted about the decision.

"This was entirely a decision taken by UK Border Force, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Home Office," he said. "It was a completely unsuitable location to bring the boats ashore, this entire situation was avoidable and has brought needless disruption to our city."

He said the Home Office had "serious questions to answer" over its planning and decision-making, though he thanked emergency services for their "professionalism under very challenging circumstances".

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

Word spread quickly once the migrants began arriving and protesters gathered near Eastney Landing.

Police in riot gear moved in to protect coaches parked nearby.

Hampshire Police introduced a dispersal order, meaning anyone refusing to leave the area risked arrest.

The demonstration has been linked to activist Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, who livestreamed from the scene, saying: "Roads are all blocked, they are never going to be able to leave here."

Pitt said the coaches were eventually able to leave Portsmouth in the early hours of Monday morning, taking people outside Hampshire for processing "in the normal way".

The Sunday protest followed a separate demonstration at the Port of Dover on Saturday, where masked protesters dressed in black blocked roads for several hours and caused major disruption.

Kent Police described it as a "spontaneous protest" and said no arrests had been made, though Dover District Council leader Kevin Mills said the force had been slow to respond to an event he called "exceptionally well organised".

The government condemned "intimidating and thuggish behaviour" at the protest, while stressing the right to peaceful protest.

Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said the protest was a "wake-up call" for the government over border control - but agreed that the behaviour of some had not been acceptable.

"There were crimes committed and they will now be investigated and I would not be surprised if there are arrests that come off the back of the footage that was captured as evidence last night," she said.

However, she said "hundreds" of those present had been acting lawfully.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the scenes in Portsmouth showed people were "genuinely angry at the government's failure to stop the boats", but added that "nothing excuses either violent or disruptive protest".

He called for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights so migrants arriving by small boat could be "immediately deported on arrival".

George Madgwick, a Reform UK county councillor for Hampshire, disputed the government's characterisation of the protest.

Writing on Facebook, he said he had reported from the scene from about 16:00 until 02:00, and that those who gathered earlier in the evening were "hundreds of local residents and families" rather than "dangerous thugs".

He said organisers had called for calm once people from outside the area arrived later on and called on the government to "stop the boats".

Kelly Pickard, 40, from Portsmouth, was on a boat in the harbour with her family when the migrants arrived.

She said they had to abandon their car and sail to the other side of the harbour to get home.

"It was an incredibly unsettling situation and not something you would expect to experience," she said.

"It's difficult not to worry about raising my child in a place where people hold and openly express such extreme views, particularly when they're being expressed with so much aggression."

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, another protester, 65-year-old Les Pearce, said he had not seen "any violence whatsoever" adding that people were "absolutely fed up" with small boat arrivals.

Another Portsmouth resident, Ella Prichard, who saw the protest while out getting a takeaway, told BBC Radio Solent it was "an absolutely surreal shock".

She described it as "a huge display of how people feel about this sort of thing possibly becoming a regular occurrence".

Home Office figures show a total of 625 migrants crossed on eight boats on Sunday, arriving at both Dover and Portsmouth.

A total of 16,513 people crossed the Channel by small boat in the year to 1 September - down 43% on the same period last year, and lower than at this point in any of the past four years.

Small boats have become the most common method of unauthorised entry to the UK since 2020, accounting for around 40% of asylum applications between July 2025 and June 2026, though they make up a small proportion - about 5% - of total UK immigration.

BBC Verify analysis shows small boats crossing the Channel carried an average of 77 people last month - the highest figure on record, and more than double the average of five years ago.

Officials have suggested smugglers may be shifting to fewer, larger "mega-dinghy" crossings in response to tougher policing around Calais, with one boat carrying a record 230 people in August.