Nigel Farage has said the country is on the edge of 'serious civil disturbance' and that masked protests are 'not the answer' after hundreds of protesters clashed with police over small boat arrivals.
The Reform UK leader made his comments following anti-migrant demonstrations across the weekend. Protesters wearing black and covered in masks disrupted traffic in the port of Dover on Saturday, chanting 'Stop the boats', to prevent migrants crossing the English Channel.
Mega dinghy rescue and Portsmouth stand-off
A mega dinghy transporting 140 migrants was rescued in the English Channel in the early hours of Sunday. Those aboard the inflatable craft set off from the Normandy coast overnight before encountering difficulties in UK waters.
In Portsmouth on Sunday, hundreds of protesters were locked in a stand-off with police overnight after assembling in the coastal city to try and prevent those migrants on board a coach from being taken to Kent for processing.
Farage's condemnation and call for voting
In a video shared on X, Mr Farage said: “Both governments have failed us completely and utterly, and all they can do overnight is to attack little old ladies in Portsmouth who came out of their houses to say, we don’t want this, we’re scared.”
However, Mr Farage also condemned some of the behaviour of the protesters. He said: “People wearing masks, dressed up in a similar-type uniform to a paramilitary is not going to solve this problem. There is a marked difference between what happened in Dover and what happened last night in Portsmouth. The only way we’re going to solve this is through the ballot box.”
Mr Farage claimed it was a 'national security emergency' and that the government needed to get a grip on the situation. He added: “Peaceful protest – good. Uniforms and masks – bad. Voting is the only way we get a solution.”
Crossing numbers and official responses
Small boats crossing the Channel are down by 43 percent compared with January to mid-July 2025 – from 21,690 people who crossed last year to 12,469 over the same period this year. Last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron met to discuss how to 'scale up' efforts to reduce small boat crossings.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said an investigation is ongoing to 'identify' offenders responsible for any assaults to police officers and other criminal offences following protests in Portsmouth. A number of police, Coastguard and Border Force vehicles were damaged during the protest and some officers were treated at the scene for injuries. However, the force said no one was seriously injured. “Violence and criminal damage have no part in peaceful protest,” it said.
A spokesperson from Downing Street said on Monday morning: “We condemn the thuggish behaviour. It was completely unacceptable. We support the right to peaceful protest but not when it crosses the line into disorder.”
The large crowds on the weekend were headed by Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo – an associate of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson. “Roads are all blocked, they are never going to be able to leave here,” Thomas said on a livestream while standing in the water at Eastney beach. “It was only yesterday (at the protests in Dover) when we warned them that we will not accept this any more, and that this is no longer an option to tell us that the boat numbers are down. This isn't about the numbers being down... this is about understanding that this has to come to an end now.”
Mike Tapp, Labour MP for Dover and Deal, has also slammed masked protesters. “I am fed up with idiots coming to Dover to cause disruption,” the ex-Home Office Minister said on X. “I bet if you asked any one of those 'protesters', they wouldn't know small boat crossings are down by 40 per cent and we are working hard to fix the mess. Go home, enjoy your weekend or get a job.”
