LONDON — Hundreds of masked anti-immigration protesters blocked roads leading to Britain’s busiest ferry port Saturday, clogging traffic and disrupting travelers and cargo vehicles heading for France.
The U.K. government condemned the action, saying it went well beyond peaceful protest.
The Port of Dover said Saturday morning that all traffic in and out was “stopped due to an ongoing public order incident,” and police said they were “engaging with the protesters.”
Video posted on social media showed several dozen men in black, their faces covered, standing across a major road near the port. One clip showed demonstrators linking arms across a main road and shouting, “Stop the boats.”
Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, wrote on X that “patriots have mobilised to close down the port.”
Chris Vinson, a Conservative Party local councilor, said the demonstration involved several hundred people and appeared to be “illegal migration-related.”
“I’m not aware that there’s been any violence, although clearly, having the path of your vehicle blocked by men wearing black paramilitary gear and balaclavas is extremely intimidating,” he said.
The Labor Party government said that “the right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but we condemn the behavior in Dover and the travel disruption it has caused.”
“We appreciate the frustration of those who have been impacted today,” it said in a statement.
The National Highways agency said the protest blocked all routes to the port and caused a 4-mile traffic jam.
Police were later filmed following protesters toward Dover’s railway station. P&O Ferries said just before midday that “access to the Port of Dover has now been restored.”
P&O, which runs services between Dover and Calais in France, said passengers who missed their ferry would be offered the next available crossing.
Dover, about 70 miles southeast of London, handled more than 9 million passengers and 2 million freight vehicles in 2025, according to the port’s website.
The town has been the site of previous anti-immigrant protests focused on migrants who cross the English Channel from France in small boats. Successive U.K. 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.
The issue has been depicted as a crisis by politicians including Nigel Farage of the hard-right party Reform UK. He branded the asylum seekers “an invasion” in a Friday speech, echoing the rhetoric of President Trump, his longtime ally.
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.
Mike Tapp, a Labor lawmaker who represents Dover in Parliament, criticized “idiots coming to Dover to cause disruption.”
“I bet if you asked any one of those ‘protesters’ they wouldn’t know small boat [crossings] are down by 40% and we are working hard to fix the mess,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday. “Go home, enjoy your weekend/get a job.”
Lawless writes for the Associated Press.
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