Around 400 people gathered outside a police station in Hampshire this evening to demand the release of anti-migrant activist Daniel Thomas, who was arrested after an incident involving a small migrant boat in the English Channel.
The protesters arrived outside the centre in Basingstoke shortly before 6.30pm, following calls on social media for supporters to assemble.
The crowd was predominantly male, with some people carrying Union flags, while many were dressed in black.
Chants of “free DT” could be heard as protesters gathered in the road outside the centre.
Some people wore hoods or face coverings and recorded the demonstration on their mobile phones.
A line of around a dozen police officers was positioned between the protesters and the entrance to the police investigation centre.
The demonstration remained peaceful, although six people were arrested during the evening, according to police.
As darkness fell in Basingstoke, protesters remained outside the police centre.
The protesters arrived outside the centre in Basingstoke shortly before 6.30pm
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PA
Some applauded drivers who sounded their horns as they passed, while police continued to monitor the gathering.
Thomas, 37, known as Danny Tommo, had posted video footage on YouTube which appeared to show his arrest.
In the footage, an officer tells him he is being detained on suspicion of criminal damage “recklessly endangering someone’s life”.
The arrest followed an incident in which the activist was filmed allegedly slashing the side of a dinghy in the English Channel while a member of a rescue crew was still on board.
LATEST MIGRANT CRISIS DEVELOPMENTS
As the founder of Patriot Platform, Mr Thomas organised and led a wave of anti-migrant protests over the course of this month, in Dover, Portsmouth and – most recently – Gosport.
It comes amid rising tensions over the migrant crisis, with demonstrators attempting to convey the public sentiment around illegal immigration to Andy Burnham’s Labour government.
A spokesman for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “A man has been arrested after a boat that had an emergency responder on board was damaged in the English Channel.”
Yesterday saw more than 700 migrants arrive in the UK via the Channel in a single day, the highest daily total recorded so far this year.
Danny Tommo has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life, according to a video he posted | GETTY
The Home Office recorded 781 arrivals in 10 boats, an average of about 78 people per vessel.
The provisional number of people who have crossed the Channel in small boats this year has now reached 18,565.
Despite the increase in recent arrivals, the figure remains 42 per cent lower than at the same point last year, and 26 per cent below the total recorded at this stage in 2024.
Ministers yesterday said government must “push further and harder” to stop the crossings.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command after two boats reached British shores undetected within two days, and described the failure to intercept them as “not acceptable”.
Meawhile, Education Secretary Lucy Powell stressed authorities could not possibly intercept every migrant boat.
The Basingstoke demonstration followed a separate protest in Gosport on Tuesday, when hundreds of anti-migrant protesters gathered after believing a boat carrying asylum seekers from France would be brought ashore there.
That vessel eventually arrived in Dover, Kent, at about 12.30am on Wednesday.
Reports said 51 migrants on board had refused assistance from a French ship and remained at sea for about 33 hours.