Eastney Landing ferry port in Portsmouth is much quieter today than the scenes that were seen on Sunday evening.

This morning, a police cordon remains in place around a police car at the port which has its windscreen smashed.

Photos show officers patrolling on a rigid inflatable boat off the coast of Eastney Beach, while a pile of discarded lifejackets can be seen piled up on the side of the road.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA

Image source, Reuters

UK and French aircraft tracked during migrant boat crossingpublished at 12:34 BST

12:34 BST

By Rob Corp

BBC Verify has been looking at flight-tracking websites to monitor activity over the English Channel yesterday around the time the migrant boat was crossing.

Flight-tracking websites show that a French Securite Civile helicopter left Cherbourg shortly before 09:00 BST on Sunday and headed north-east across the Channel. Tracking data is incomplete but the French aircraft flew north-east until it was about 39km (24 miles) off the French coast.

Tracking was intermittent before data showed the helicopter returning to Cherbourg just before 09:30.

Shortly after 11:00 a HM Coastguard King Air aircraft was tracked taking off from Newquay airport in Cornwall before heading east to the Channel. It arrived over a point approximately midway between the Isle of Wight and the coast of Normandy at 11:49.

This aircraft flew various circular and oval orbits over the Channel and was joined by a Coastguard helicopter at 12:52. At 13:38 the helicopter flew towards the Isle of Wight before landing at Lee-on-Solent just before 14:00.

At 13:59, 23km (15 miles) south of Ventnor, the Coastguard King Air completed its last orbit and flew west back towards Cornwall.

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

Over the weekend we saw migrants make a journey from the coast of Normandy in France to Portsmouth in Hampshire (a journey of around 75 miles (120km) depending on the specific route taken).

It's thought to be one of the longest boat journeys facilitated by smugglers attempting to transport people to the UK.

Migration analysts say people are experimenting with new routes across the English Channel to avoid deterrents.

For example, the French police have a heavy presence in places like Calais and Dunkirk, so migrants may think it would be easier to attempt their crossing from elsewhere without intervention.

But be in no doubt - a longer boat journey is more perilous and potentially could cost further lives.

One asylum seeker who came to the UK via small boat a few years ago tells the BBC that doesn't matter though.

He says: "The length of the journey is irrelevant. Migrants will do anything to come here - their desperation is immense and it will matter little that they'll be in the water longer."

He added their ultimate aim is to get into British waters so they can legally claim asylum.

James Kelly
Your Voice

Image source, Kelly Pickard

Kelly Pickard was on a boat with her family in Portsmouth yesterday when they saw the RNLI come in.

"It was a very strange scene to witness, all the people on board, the authorities arriving and setting up temporary units for processing, coaches, police and protesters," she tells the BBC.

She explains the family had to abandon their car and sail instead to the other side of the harbour - walking home from there.

She calls it an "incredibly unsettling situation".

"I understand that people have their own views on the situation, however the views of some of the protesters that I heard last night have left me feeling genuinely unsettled," Pickard adds.

"It’s difficult not to worry about raising my child in a place where people hold and openly express such extreme views, particularly when they’re being expressed with so much aggression."

Daniel Sandford
UK correspondent

Image source, SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The man who seems to have organised the balaclava protest in Dover and the more spontaneous protest in Portsmouth last night is Danny Thomas, known to his supporters as Danny Tommo.

He is a long-term campaigner against migrants and claims to be a Christian. "Christ is King!" was shouted alongside "Stop the boats!" at the Dover protest.

Danny Tommo first came to public attention in 2016 when he was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to attempting to kidnap at knifepoint a man called Graham Page.

When he came out of prison, he became a close associate of the anti-migrant and anti-Muslim activist known as Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).

They appear to be less close now, though Tommy Robinson has expressed support for this weekend's protests.

Using social media, Danny Tommo spent last year filming himself on the beaches of France, harassing migrants.

In July, he announced a new venture called Patriot Platform. He spent the summer at Patriot Platform-themed events drumming up support for what he called "mass resistance" but without violence.

The Dover balaclava protest, well-organised and disciplined, was the group's first outing. It unlikely to be the last.

He seems to be borrowing ideas from groups like Just Stop Oil. Strong visual protests, with maximum disruption.

• Read more from Daniel Sandford on the link between the two protests in our previous post

Simon Jones
Reporter, BBC South East Today

Image source, French lifeboat services

This grainy image given to us by the French lifeboat crew based at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue in Normandy shows the dinghy that was taken to Portsmouth, sparking last night's protests.

It was carrying around 140 people, and was only a short way into its journey at this point.

The boat was shadowed for around ten hours by several vessels to make sure it didn't get into difficulty, given the number of people on board.

When it reached UK waters, the migrants became the responsibility of the British authorities. They were transferred mid-Channel onto two lifeboats and taken to shore.

As we've been reporting, two protests took place in the south of England over the weekend with hundreds demonstrating against migrants arriving by small boats.

Here's a quick reminder of how events unfolded:

• On Saturday morning, a large demonstration took place at the Port of Dover. It blocked traffic in and out of the port for several hours - bringing lots of disruption to the UK's busiest international ferry and passenger port
• In the early hours of Sunday morning, at around 01:00 BST, a dinghy carrying 140 migrants leaves the French shoreline near Cherbourg
• French rescue boats travelled alongside the dinghy for around ten hours as the French Coastguard said it was not safe to stop the boat once it was in the water - and at around midday it reaches UK waters
• A decision is then made between Border Force and the Coastguard to dock the boat in Portsmouth - there's more on that in our earlier post
• By Sunday afternoon, a second protest had begun in Portsmouth - with roads blocked in a bid to prevent coaches carrying the migrants from leaving the city

Labour MP Stephen Morgan, whose Portsmouth South constituency covers the landing area where the migrants were brought to shore, says: "The intimidating and thuggish behaviour seen last night has no place in Portsmouth."

Reiterating the government's comments earlier, Morgan says: "The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder."

He thanks the emergency crews who responded yesterday, and says he will continue to work with the Home Office and local services to support communities today.

Image source, PA Media

Were the Dover and Portsmouth protests linked?published at 10:49 BST

10:49 BST

Daniel Sandford
UK correspondent

This weekend saw two anti-migrant protests.

The men in balaclavas in Dover, and the crowd trying to block the migrant coaches in Portsmouth - but how are they linked?

The answer is one man - Danny Thomas, more often known as Danny Tommo - and some apparently poor decision-making by Border Force officials.

Danny Tommo had organised the Dover protest, where men in black clothing and balaclavas blocked the main roads near the Port of Dover for several hours.

It seems to have been well-planned in advance, after weeks of plotting over the summer. Kent Police referred to it as a "spontaneous protest".

On Sunday, when Border Force was deciding where to ask the RNLI to being ashore a boatful of migrants the decision was made to bring them to the Eastney landing stage - where the passenger ferry goes from Portsmouth to Hayling Island.

Danny Tommo comes from Hayling Island.

Whether this decision was made through ignorance or incompetence, it made it very easy for him to mobilise his local support last night using social media.

Image source, Reuters

Reform UK chairman Lee Anderson says it is "no wonder" people are taking to the streets to vent their anger at the arrival of people he says "have no right to be in this country".

Anderson writes on X that he fully supports "British people who turn up in huge numbers" to peacefully protest, but says Reform's policy is to ban all face coverings in public - including balaclavas and those worn for religious reasons.

At the Dover protest on Saturday, hundreds of protesters blocked roads while wearing all black outfits with their faces covered.

He adds that Reform condemns "attacks on our police" - and tells those looking to protest that they have his support if they "do it the right way".

The party's home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf, also writing on X, says the people of Portsmouth have "every right to be scared and angry".

He adds that under Reform policy, marines would have orders to ensure "not a single illegal vessel makes it to our shores" with all illegal migrants "detained and deported".

Image source, Ella Prichard

Portsmouth resident Ella Prichard says she saw the Portsmouth protest last night when she went out to get a takeaway.

She tells BBC Radio Solent it was "an absolutely surreal shock" to see what was happening.

"Somewhere that is a place that we go on a daily basis - suddenly becoming infested with police, riot vans, coaches - it is not equipped for that sort of level of intrusion.

"It was an absolute shock and a real worry."

But, she describes the protest as a "huge display of how people feel about this sort of thing possibly becoming a regular occurrence".

Image source, French lifeboat services

Thousands of migrants are still crossing the English Channel by small boat each year - but the total number has dropped, according to Home Office data.

Between 1 January and 5 September 2026, a total of 16,513 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France - 43% lower than the same period the previous year.

It is also lower than at this point of any of the past four years.

Small boat crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020 - and account for 40% of asylum applications between July 2025 and June 2026.

When looking at the scale of small boats crossings, the number of arriving by small boats is about 5% of the size of total immigration into the UK from January 2025 to December 2025.

Jamie Morris
Reporting from Portsmouth

There are still a few people walking around here on Ferry Road, in Portsmouth.

Some are dog walkers, some are journalists, others are people coming to look at the aftermath of last night's protest.

This Home Office vehicle appears to have had its window smashed.

Patrick Hughes
Reporting from Portsmouth

It's quiet this morning across the water from Eastney Landing ferry port, in Portsmouth, where the protest occurred last night.

All you can hear is the odd snippet of birdsong and the odd car passing by.

The area where the coaches carrying the migrants were sitting last night is now empty, and it's hard to imagine what this place would have looked just a few hours ago.

The only signs that something unusual happened here last night are the handful of police cars parked around the area, and one marked Home Office vehicle parked outside of a local angling club.

More now from Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast about the protests in Portsmouth, Jones says that "people have a right to peaceful protest" and that was "largely" the case last night.

Pushed on whether she agrees with the government's description of the demonstration as "thuggish", Jones says: "For a small proportion of the people that were protesting last night, yes I would agree with the government's comments there.

"There were crimes committed and they will now be investigated and I would not be surprised if there are arrests that come off the back of the footage that was captured as evidence last night."

However, she says "hundreds" were acting lawfully.

Jones - a Conservative politician - calls the protest a "wake-up call to the government... that the British people are fed up with the lack of control of our borders".

Minister Emma Reynolds says she agrees with the "right to peaceful protest" - but the protest in Portsmouth on Sunday evening "obviously crosses a line".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Reynolds condemns what she describes as "thuggish" and "intimidating" behaviour - similar language was used by a government spokesperson last night.

"Obviously the British people do have legitimate concerns about immigration, but people should not express those concerns in intimidating ways in the way we saw in Portsmouth last night," she says.

Image source, Eddie Mitchell

Small boats protests - like the ones in Dover and Portsmouth - are creating a "climate of fear", according to the founder of campaign group Hope Not Hate.

Nick Lowles tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "To have 300, 400 people with balaclavas marching down the streets, stopping traffic, it is not just good enough."

He says police forces "need to get a grip".

Lowles says he understands some people are concerned about migration and its impact on "already stretched communities", but says "we’ve got the ballot box, we’ve got different ways to register our protest".

He adds: “The images we saw over the weekend, just like the images we saw earlier this year, last year, and in 2024, is creating a climate of fear.

"Fear among migrants and immigrants, fear among people of colour, fear amongst many people... I think the government needs to be far more robust in standing up against this."

Simon Jones
Reporter, BBC South East Today

We're not expecting any more Channel crossings today - the weather has turned.

Two boats made it to Dover this morning with about 140 people on board. A third crossing attempt failed after the engine broke down.

Simon Jones
Reporter, BBC South East Today

Normally when migrants are picked up in the Channel by Border Force or the RNLI, they are taken straight to Dover for initial health and identity checks.

Yesterday though was different.

The dinghy carrying around 140 migrants had set off so far along the coast from Calais that it was met by lifeboats from the Isle of Wight.

Discussions would have then taken place between Border Force and the Coastguard about where best to land the people - who had already been at sea for around 10 hours.

A trip to Dover would have meant another four to five hours on the water. It would also have taken the two lifeboats away from the area they normally cover.

A decision was taken to head to Portsmouth - but it is not geared up for migrant arrivals, seen by the makeshift tents that were quickly erected.

As word spread about what was happening, the protesters quickly gathered, leading to a night of tension.

Sunday night's protest in Portsmouth comes after the Port of Dover was brought to a standstill on Saturday, when hundreds of masked demonstrators blocked roads in protest against small boat crossings.

They were dressed all in black and wearing face coverings - some could be heard chanting "whose streets" and "stop the boats".

The group were blocking traffic in and out of the port. By about 09:00 BST, National Highways reported that there was four miles (6.4km) of congestion, with queues of up to 45 minutes. Ferry operators were also reporting disruption.

Shortly after midday, the port said roads were "free flowing" after protesters were escorted to the local train station by police - Kent Police called it a "spontaneous protest" and said no arrests had been made.

Local Labour MP Mike Tapp told the BBC that there is "nothing wrong with protest" but claimed the group had been "extremely intimidating" to local residents.

Dover District Council leader Kevin Mills told the BBC the police had been slow to react to an "exceptionally well organised" protest - and that demonstrators "caught several agencies on the hoof".

Kent Police hasn't commented, but cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said officers "did deal with it swiftly".