Kent Police have been criticised for "making it too easy" for far-right thugs to cause chaos with anti-migrant protests in Dover. The force has been accused of an "intelligence failure" after the port was blockaded and surrounding roads were disrupted on Saturday morning.
An estimated 300 to 500 protesters, mostly men dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, descended on the UK's busiest ferry port. Police said the demonstration had come to an end by midday with no arrests made.
MP demands answers over protest
Labour MP for Dover and Deal Mike Tapp said he would be talking to ministers about how the disruption appeared to catch police unawares. He said: "I will be looking urgently to ask questions around why we didn't know about this, because we do tend to know when protests are coming to the area."
"They tend to be peaceful and laws aren't broken and obviously the police have the resources to manage that. But in this instance, it would appear the police didn't know about it and the resources were pretty thin on the ground from what I saw."
"And we know laws were broken because they were blocking the roads and wearing face coverings."
Police defend response
Responsibility for the protests appears to have been claimed by a far-right faction called Patriot Platform. The group was founded by Danny Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, who is understood to be a close associate of far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson.
Kent Police defended its handling of the protests and said: "It was a spontaneous event and handled accordingly."
