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Far right Patriot Platform block migrants in Portsmouth, no arrests made
Police officers at Eastney Point, Portsmouth, following a protest after people thought to be migrants were brought into the harbour, September 7, 2026

ANTI-RACISM campaigners warned of “double standards” of policing today after far-right agitators blocked roads in Portsmouth attempting to intimidate arriving asylum-seekers.

Hundreds of men wearing balaclavas and dressed in black tried to block migrants from being transported for processing until 3am when the police removed them.

Despite witnesses saying two police car windscreens were smashed, no arrests were made during the racist mobilisation in Portsmouth, which closely followed similar events in Dover.

The gathering was reportedly organised by a close ally of far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, Daniel Thomas, known online as Danny Tommo. He was also involved with the Dover riots.

Mr Thomas was recently seen in a video telling a crowd that Portsmouth was “now ground zero” for the arrival of asylum-seekers crossing the Channel from France.

Alex Gordon, an organiser of the Cable Street 90th anniversary march which will be held in Tower Hamlets on Sunday October 4, said: “Ninety years after the Battle of Cable Street when the people of East London came together to stop Mosley’s fascists, we see Blackshirts back on our streets.

“The latest provocations by so-called ‘patriots’ in Dover and Portsmouth, who close roads and block port entrances while police look on, will remind anti-fascists of the double standards applied by the British state,” Mr Gordon told the Morning Star.

He recalled that when in 2022 trade unionists blocked the Port of Dover to protest over the sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries, “police were quick enough to remove us.

“Even allowing for the fact that today’s blackshirt thugs are infiltrated by police intelligence assets, the symbolic action of blocking the Port of Dover represents a propaganda coup for the far right.”

Stand Up to Racism national organiser Michael Bradley said: “Fascists Danny Tommo & Tommy Robinson are attempting to make a big intervention into British politics targeting refugees.”

He told the Star that these riots were “about showing that they have a ‘street army’ which is ready to act against ‘invasion’ while Farage, mainstream politicians and media just talk.”

Chief secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds rejected the claim that the police were taken by surprise by the riots, saying instead that they had dealt with the protesters well.

Speaking to Sky News, she added that the riots constituted “thuggish and intimidating behaviour.”

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