Sister of asylum hotel worker stabbed to death 23 times with a screwdriver drives four hours to voice anger at Portsmouth anti-migrant protest
Alex Whyte, whose sister Rhiannon was murdered by an asylum seeker in October 2024, travelled four hours to join anti-migrant protests in Portsmouth, where demonstrators waded into the sea in an attempt to block a boat carrying asylum seekers. The protest, one of two major anti-migrant demonstrations in the UK that weekend, reflects growing public anger over asylum policy and comes as Whyte's family campaigns for tougher detention laws for undocumented arrivals.
More than 500 protesters gathered at Eastney Beach for over five hours, chanting "stop the boats" as 140 asylum seekers arrived on a UK Coastguard vessel before being taken by bus to a processing centre in Kent. Rhiannon Whyte, 27, was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver by Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek, who was jailed for 29 years; her sister Alex said ministers had promised her the boats would stop. Riot police eventually dispersed the crowd after clashes, with some protesters later following the buses towards Kent, a day after masked demonstrators blockaded the Port of Dover.
- Murdered woman's sister joins Portsmouth protest against asylum seeker arrivals
- Over 500 demonstrators tried to block 140 migrants reaching processing centre
- Riot police dispersed crowds; follows separate Dover port blockade
New here? Start with this
Alex Whyte's sister, Rhiannon, was murdered in October 2024 by Deng Majek, a Sudanese asylum seeker, who stabbed her 23 times with a screwdriver and was later jailed for 29 years. Since then, Alex Whyte and her family have campaigned for tougher detention laws covering people who arrive in the UK without permission, arguing that stronger measures could have prevented the attack.
The Portsmouth demonstration was one of several anti-migrant protests held across the UK, part of a wider pattern of public anger over how asylum seekers arriving by boat are processed and housed. Small boat crossings and the use of hotels to house asylum seekers have become highly contested political issues, with protesters on one side calling for tighter border controls and counter-protesters and refugee support groups on the other defending the rights of people seeking asylum.
Eastney Beach in Portsmouth was the site of this particular protest because asylum seekers were due to arrive there by UK Coastguard vessel before being transferred onward, in this case to a processing centre in Kent. Such arrivals have repeatedly drawn protesters to ports and beaches around the country, sometimes leading to confrontations with police.