Anti-migrant protesters waded into the sea in Portsmouth to confront around 140 asylum seekers being brought ashore from a mega-dinghy, sparking clashes with riot police and a second consecutive weekend of demonstrations against Channel crossings. Officers dispersed roughly 500 demonstrators, who had blocked roads and chanted "stop the boats," before migrants were taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent, with some protesters following the vehicles by car. The unrest follows a similar blockade at the Port of Dover on Saturday, highlighting growing public anger and organised opposition to small boat arrivals.

The dinghy had departed from the Baie de Seine in Normandy, well south-west of Calais, suggesting smugglers are shifting launch points to avoid enforcement; French coastguards reportedly shadowed the vessel for ten hours rather than intervening, citing overcrowding, before British lifeboats, a helicopter and a plane completed the rescue. The Portsmouth protest is believed to have been organised by Daniel "Danny Tommo" Thomas, an associate of Tommy Robinson, whose Patriot Platform group also led the Dover demonstration. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised the Government's approach, noting almost 20,000 illegal crossings so far this year, while local Conservative police and crime commissioner Donna Jones warned that smugglers targeting new UK ports would pose a significant challenge.