Masked anti-migrant protesters disrupt Britain’s biggest international ferry port

• Hundreds of masked protesters blocked roads at the Port of Dover, stopping ferry traffic between Britain and France on Sept 5.
• The protest targeted migrant crossings across the English Channel, with chants of "stop the boats" amid rising anti-immigration sentiment.
• The Port of Dover resumed normal traffic by noon, handling thousands of vehicles daily and crucial for Britain's trade with the EU.

LONDON – Hundreds of masked people protesting against migrant crossings across the English Channel blocked access to the Port of Dover in southern England on Sept 5, briefly halting traffic being ferried between France and Britain.

The Port of Dover said traffic was “free flowing” again around noon, hours after being “stopped” on the morning of Sept 5 as roads approaching the port were blocked by protesters.

Local police said no arrests had been made and the protest, which initially blocked “all routes” in and out of the terminal, had been dispersed.

Images shared online showed hundreds of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas streaming to roads surrounding the port, used by ferries between southern England and northern France.

In an online live stream that appeared to be filmed by one of the protesters, a crowd of black-clothed men chanted “stop the boats” as they stood facing a police line.

Britain has been grappling with how to curb the perilous and politically contentious small-boat crossings, which in recent years have seen tens of thousands of migrants arriving annually on the shores of south-east England.

The issue has been relentlessly seized upon by the hard-right in the country, which has surged in popularity on the back of growing anti-immigration sentiment.

The centre-left Labour government has said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the English Channel was the lowest this summer since 2019, in part because of cooperation deals with the French government.

A government spokesperson “condemned” the protest while a hard-right Reform UK party MP called the disruption “disgraceful”.

While there were no reports of violence, several local politicians slammed the balaclava-clad protest as “intimidating”.

But far-right, anti-Islam figurehead Tommy Robinson backed the protest, saying it was “British patriots send(ing) a warning shot to the establishment”.

One passenger affected by the disruption told Sky News they were “stuck on a boat in Dunkirk for over an hour and a half”.

“Stop the boats? Wrong ones!” added the passenger, who was not named.

During summer months, the Port of Dover says it handles more than 10,000 freight vehicles and 15,000 passenger vehicles a day, and is responsible for a third of Britain’s goods trade with the European Union.

It is Britain’s biggest international ferry port. AFP