(Adnkronos) – Protests continue in the United Kingdom against migrants. Around 200 demonstrators, some dressed in black and with their faces covered, gathered yesterday in Gosport, in the south of England, to protest against the expected arrival of a dinghy carrying 51 migrants. British police arrested six demonstrators after the protest, which aimed to block the landing of migrants who had spent over 36 hours at sea to cross the English Channel, “became hostile towards officers”. The dinghy subsequently landed in Dover, in southeast England.
French authorities stated that the migrants on board the vessel, deemed “unsuitable for navigation”, had refused assistance because they were “determined to take every risk to reach the United Kingdom”.
The United Kingdom is trying to find a way to curb these dangerous journeys, which have contributed to increasing support for the radical right-wing party Reform UK. At the beginning of September, the British Home Office stated that the number of crossings recorded in August had fallen to its lowest level since records began in 2018, while the number of arriving migrants had also reached its lowest level since 2020. In recent months, however, authorities have reported an increase in the number of people traveling on each vessel. According to Home Office data updated on Sunday, 17,480 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since the beginning of the year.
