How Migrant Arrivals Spark Hostility in England's Ferry Towns - Tempo.co English
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After spending more than 33 hours at sea, a total of 51 migrants on a dinghy arrived in Dover, a seaport town in Kent, south-east England, on Wednesday morning, September 23, 2026.
Their journey was shadowed by the French coastguard, according to The Independent, who said the migrant boat left the Normandy coast on Monday morning. The boat appeared to have departed from near the village of Vierville-sur-Mer, west of Bayeux, which BBC noted was a rarity, as departures that far west of Normandy make the crossing much longer.
The French coastguard said the migrants were in "precarious conditions" and refused help as they were "determined to take all risks to reach" the UK.
The British coastguard sent the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), an independent charity that saves lives at sea, to assist those on board out of concern for their "safety and deteriorating health."
The RNLI later transferred those on the boat to the Border Force vessel, after which they were transferred to Border Security Command, according to the BBC.
The migrants were seen disembarking in Dover, carrying their personal belongings while wearing orange life jackets.
The migrants' arrival came amid hostile anti-migrant protests across Dover and Portsmouth, a major port city in south England, which received a migrant boat earlier this month.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Gosport, Hampshire, on Tuesday evening, where they were anticipating the arrival of the migrants, after Local MP Dame Caroline Dinenage said it's "increasingly likely" the boat would be taken there.
Several men stood in front of the crowd, dressed in black and face coverings, leading them as they chanted "send them back."
Six people were arrested at the Gosport protest, where local police said some "became hostile towards officers."
Two were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, 19- and 36-year-old men from Salisbury. An elderly man, aged 67, was arrested for careless driving and assault of an emergency worker. Three other people, a man and two women in their thirties, were all arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.
Officers were also sent to Portsmouth, where they were probing a livestreamed video showing damage caused to a boat in the Channel.
It was far-right campaigner against migrants, Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, who shared the livestream, who was seen on camera slashing an inflatable dinghy with a rescue worker onboard, as reported by The Guardian.
According to the BBC, Thomas has spent the last year filming himself harassing migrants before announcing Patriot Platform in July, an anti-immigration movement designed to "take our country back."
A dozen anti-migrant protesters were also spotted near Dover's port as the migrants were arriving on Wednesday.
Since the start of this year, about 17,480 migrants have arrived by boat, including 5,011 migrant arrivals since Prime Minister Andy Burnham was inaugurated.
This number is down 46% compared to 2025, attributed to law enforcement activity, although the BBC said one expert cited the improving security in Syria as one of the factors behind the decline. On Monday, five people were detained after making it to shore at Folkestone undetected.
Small-boat crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020. Nearly all of them claim asylum, which allows them to stay in the country while their application is considered.
Overcrowding, BBC reported, makes the small-boat crossings riskier, as a migrant boat carries an average of 68 people over the past year. The UN reported that at least 84 people died while attempting to cross the Channel in 2024.
