The British government on Monday (September 7, 2026) condemned the “intimidating and thuggish behaviour” of anti-immigrant demonstrators who converged on a port in southern England where migrants were brought ashore after crossing the English Channel.
The issue has been depicted as a crisis by politicians including Nigel Farage of the hard-right party Reform UK, and has been used as a rallying point by anti-immigration activists. Successive UK governments have struggled to stop people, more than 40,000 last year, making the dangerous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government says stepped-up law enforcement cooperation between Britain and France has helped reduce the number of people making the crossing so far this year by more than 40% compared with 2025.
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder,” the government said in a statement. Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said lifeboats, a coastguard helicopter and a plane were involved in the operation to bring the migrants to shore.
