A demonstration against illegal boat migrants in the United Kingdom brought a port city to a temporary halt.
Police were called on Saturday to the Port of Dover after hundreds of masked Britons blocked roads and brought traffic to a standstill.
The protesters chanted, ‘I’m England till I die!’
Video from the demonstration shows mostly male protesters shouting, “Stop the boats!” and “Whose streets? Our streets!”
Commuters, port workers, and tourists reported long delays over the demonstration.
The Port of Dover is frequently a site of anti-immigration protests as it is where migrants are often brought to the U.K. when they are picked up in small boats in the English Channel.
No arrests were made in Dover.
About 200,000 illegal migrants have crossed the English Channel in small inflatable boats from France since 2021 according to CBS News. Most of the illegal migrants are adult men originally from Africa or the Middle East.
Reform leader Nigel Farage issued a statement against the masked protesters.
“Now, I’m all for the protest. Plenty to protest about. But seriously, this is not the way to go about it,” he wrote at the Daily Telegraph.
“Because let’s be clear, face coverings are a menace,” he added. “Whether it is a heavy-duty balaclava worn by a gang member or the dark mask of ‘Antifa’ extremists, their purpose is to bully and intimidate.”
He went on to call for all face coverings to be banned in public, including religious ones.
Another protest erupted at Portsmouth on Sunday in an attempt to block the arrival of 140 migrants who were intercepted from one boat. Some of the protesters chanted, “I’m England till I die!”
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None were arrested at that protest either.
Mike Tapp, Labour member of Parliament for Dover, condemned the protesters.
“I bet if you asked any one of those ‘protesters’ they wouldn’t know small boat crossing[s] are down by 40%, and we are working hard to fix the mess,” he wrote on Facebook Saturday. “Go home, enjoy your weekend/get a job.”
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