Masked protesters block Port of Dover

SM was alive yesterday evening with reports that Danny Tommo had called for protesters, "Patriots" as he calls them, to demonstrate in Portsmouth after two RNLI boats landed around 140 immigrants, coaches were ready to transport them to Dover.

Reports were that riot police were in attendance.

MSN has picked it up this morning.

MT62. I, too have read on social media about how the locals " clapped and cheered". I live in East Kent and understand differently.

OldFrill

Himdowntheroad

So amusing that many of the men appeared to be wearing a burkha, part of the clothing that many of them are so scared of.

Where do you read this misinformation?

They don’t, they make it up.
If the comment was so ridiculous it would be funny.
Assuming that Himdowntheroad knows what a burka is, can you imagine a protester running down the road in the dark not being able to see where they are going 🤦🏼‍♀️

petra

OldFrill

Himdowntheroad

So amusing that many of the men appeared to be wearing a burkha, part of the clothing that many of them are so scared of.

Where do you read this misinformation?

They don’t, they make it up.
If the comment was so ridiculous it would be funny.
Assuming that Himdowntheroad knows what a burka is, can you imagine a protester running down the road in the dark not being able to see where they are going 🤦🏼‍♀️

I know, what I wanted to say would have got my comment deleted 😏

I think people have been driven to these extremes. For years there have been rumblings of anxiety about the numbers of illegal immigrants entering the country but these have been fobbed off by the people who should be listening.
The intelligentsia sneer at the opinions of what they snobbishly like to label as prejudiced and ill educated (and whose fault is that) but fail to take into account that an awful lot of people are concerned, rabble or not.
In truth, how else can people register their disquiet when the people who could do something about it just won't.
The Rwanda scheme was there waiting but was chucked out for political reasons. And before everyone weighs in, look how it put people off coming for the day or so it was in force. It would be a safe place to process and accept entrants legally, and return those who aren't. (And before everyone weighs in, as someone who has spent time there, it is every bit as safe as here, and with very good infrastructure.)

Chocolatelovinggran

MT62. I, too have read on social media about how the locals " clapped and cheered". I live in East Kent and understand differently.

Why do people think clapping and cheering thugs is the way forward?

The number of people arriving by small boat has decreased by over 50% this year. I'll clap to celebrate that fewer people are being trafficked and put in danger not because thugs are on our streets in balaclavas.

Just look at who exactly is arriving? Fit young men. Of course people are uncomfortable about this. Think how much each one individually is costing in cash and accomodation. Plainly they are not all doctors and useful engineers. They frankly scare women and children in areas where they hang about.

Ah the old doctors and engineers thing. It's getting a bit tired now.

Aveline yes 👍

The front page of The Times is casting doubt on the validity of asylum claims. Many are identical, even down to over 100 Kurds saying on their application that they are under a death sentence due to having an affair with a certain high profile female.

Source - ITV Breakfast News

I’m aware that at Tribunals, it’s a regular practice for asylum seekers to claim they are gay and converted to Christianity. Their claim for asylum is based on their claim that if returned to their country of origin, their life will be taken.

GrannyGravy13

Aveline yes 👍

The front page of The Times is casting doubt on the validity of asylum claims. Many are identical, even down to over 100 Kurds saying on their application that they are under a death sentence due to having an affair with a certain high profile female.

Source - ITV Breakfast News

I read that, Iraqi Kurds claiming they had an affair with the daughter of a bigwig, groups of Pakistanis claiming asylum for being dissidents ( all giving the same background stuff) and groups of Bangladeshi men claiming to be gay falsely.
It would be funny if these people with false stories were sent on their way but according to the HO whistleblower they often are granted asylum due to the claims, appeals and ineffectiveness of the HO generally.He reckons about 1% may be genuine asylum seekers.

The young men who arrive here are hoping to work and send money to their families, I find it incredibly sad to see the stereotyping that is being promoted by the far right. Apparently the leader of Patriotic Platform has convictions for GBH and an attempted kidnapping in a drugs related event. Many of the members of these far right groups have convictions, who is shouting about that? He claims to have found "God" and is a Christian. Well, so did members of the Ku Klux Klan. We don't need masked vigilantes on our streets, let's leave policing to the police.

Asylum seekers immigration down by 40% in one year to this summer.

What is this moral panic going on when everything is heading in the right direction.

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle of the left’s claims and the right’s concerns.

Yes there will be a percentage of asylum seekers who have fled for their lives. There is also a growing percentage of economic migrants playing the system, dodging the law of their country and paying the traffickers huge amounts of €€€€

Still….we do need all the barber shops, nail bars and vape shops and the handy little convenience stores where you can buy dodgy cheap cigarettes and drugs from under the counter! Not.
Almost all owned and run by former asylum seekers according to the government backed raids on them.

I think those posters who live in lovely parts of the country where life goes on as normal and they don’t see any of this stuff will never understand what the rest of society who live with it feel.

Whitewavemark2

Asylum seekers immigration down by 40% in one year to this summer.

What is this moral panic going on when everything is heading in the right direction.

Good that’s it’s down, let’s hope it stays that way.

The latest arrival in Portsmouth was from a new un-policed launch site. A much longer and dangerous route.

I do not want to see lives lost in the channel, would much rather cooperation between France and U.K. that enables asylum seekers to apply in France.

I abhor that criminal gangs of people traffickers are getting rich on others misery.

Oreo

Still….we do need all the barber shops, nail bars and vape shops and the handy little convenience stores where you can buy dodgy cheap cigarettes and drugs from under the counter! Not.
Almost all owned and run by former asylum seekers according to the government backed raids on them.

I agree

Oreo

I think those posters who live in lovely parts of the country where life goes on as normal and they don’t see any of this stuff will never understand what the rest of society who live with it feel.

I also agree with this

No Oreo we don't need these shops on our High streets if they are a front for organised crime, it is my understanding that the government is putting laws in place to deal with them. It's a pity that this wasn't tackled by the previous government.

foxie48

No Oreo we don't need these shops on our High streets if they are a front for organised crime, it is my understanding that the government is putting laws in place to deal with them. It's a pity that this wasn't tackled by the previous government.

It was, our High Road was raided several times before Keir Starmer was elected.

People were arrested, some deported, fines paid (in one instance monthly over two years) nail bar and restaurants still remain open…

"I abhor that criminal gangs of people traffickers are getting rich on others misery" GG13

Yes, I do too. They trade on poverty and hopelessness by promising potential migrants that they have a solution to the problems faced by families living in areas of poverty and starvation. Families put themselves in considerable debt to send a son abroad because they are desperate. Trump has cut USAID , the UK has cut foreign aid and now spends much of it on migrants who are in the UK rather than in the countries they are travelling from. This is a pattern across Europe and the Western world, cutting aid means more people face poverty and starvation and are more likely to consider migration. We cannot build a wall big enough to keep people out but we could try to help them to build an economy that makes them want to stay at home. Humans treating other less fortunate people with humanity not hostility.

From the BBC 10th August 2026

New vape shops will require planning permission and councils will get more powers to block new betting shops, under government plans aimed at improving high streets.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said town centres had been "hollowed out" by decades of decline and for many people, the high streets they grew up with are "unrecognisable".

He said the plans were "shaped" by a series of BBC News investigations which exposed organised crime on high streets, revealing shops selling illegal cigarettes, vapes, cannabis and cocaine, enabling illegal working and suspected money-laundering.

It appears that the tories and Reform would rather see vape shops on High streets than empty premises. How bizarre

The Conservatives and Reform said the proposals would lead to "more empty" shops, without tax relief for other small businesses.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg90el9236o

I just hope that Burnham does what he promised...

MaizieD let’s hope so.

Our local council is desperately trying to close the vape shop on our High Street.

The owners are rather canny so far.