Hard-right ‘migrant hunters’ clash with French police and spark arrests in UK protests

Activists identifying as “migrant hunters” confronted French CRS riot police on beaches such as Calais, seeking to prevent small migrant vessels from reaching Britain. Aid organization Utopia 56 reported that many of the militants were British and that some shouted racist slurs and performed Nazi salutes, marking an escalation in tactics. The same network is alleged to have helped spark an anti-migrant protest in Gosport, Hampshire, after alerting demonstrators to a boat carrying 149 migrants rescued by RNLI lifeboats.

Hampshire Police arrested 12 people, including 11 men and one woman, on charges ranging from assaulting officers to racially aggravated public order offences. Far-right figure Daniel Thomas, banned from France and recently detained in Belgium, is now held after pleading not guilty to criminal damage for allegedly slashing a migrant dinghy. The Home Office confirmed 418 migrants arrived in the UK that day, while Border Force continued to intercept further crossings.