Dispersal order and mask ban in place as anti-migrant protests held in Southampton and Dover

Mixed · 2Police in Hampshire and Kent imposed special powers ahead of anti-migrant protests in Southampton and Dover on Saturday 3 October. 1 2 Mixed · 2In Southampton, South Coast Patriots and the anti-racism group Southampton Stand Up To Racism were due to demonstrate. 1 2 Mixed · 2Superintendent Alex Charge, Southampton district commander, said a dispersal order was in place from 7pm on Friday until 7am on Sunday. The Daily Mirror says it was made under Section 34 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and lets officers order people to leave the area. Refusing is a criminal offence and can lead to arrest. 1 2

Mixed · 2A ban on face coverings used to conceal identity during protest activity applied in the same area from 11am to 5pm on Saturday, under Section 158 of the Crime and Policing Act 2025, according to the Mirror's account of Charge's message. 1 2 Left · 1Hampshire Police also set conditions. The Patriots procession had to follow a set route without stops. The counter-protest was given a fixed location and could not go south of the Bargate. A "neutral zone" was meant to keep the groups apart, and the Stand Up To Racism procession would start after the Patriots had passed. 1 Left · 1Southampton Itchen MP Darren Paffey said people in Southampton "will not welcome so-called patriots flocking to our city to whip up fear and division". He said the right to protest does not extend to disruption and intimidation, and that anyone seeking disorder should stay away. 1

Mixed · 2In Dover, Kent Police said it had "robust" preparations and would station a "substantial" number of highly trained officers in the town centre. A counter-protest was planned at Pencester Gardens, and police "anticipate the two groups may attempt to come together". 1 2 Mixed · 2Kent Police's face-covering ban for protest participants ran from 8am to 9pm on Saturday. It covers parts of Dover including Buckland, Whitfield, Guston and St Margaret's-at-Cliffe. People covering their faces for religious, health or work reasons are exempt. Detective Chief Superintendent Elly Maggs said the right to protest "is not unlimited" and that anyone coming to cause trouble would be arrested. 2 1 Centre · 1South Coast Patriots is not among the regional groups listed on its website as affiliates of Patriot Platform, the network founded by Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo. Online posts advertising the Dover protest carry the name English Defence League, and the Patriot Platform affiliate Kent Patriots said on Instagram that its members would not attend. 2

Left · 1The Mirror recalled that on 5 September hundreds of masked activists dressed in black blocked roads at the Port of Dover, which said all routes in and out were affected. 1 Centre · 1By mid-afternoon, Press Association reporters said demonstrators in Southampton had marched from the port waving English and Union flags and chanting "Stop the boats", "England till I die" and "Deport the f****** lot". The march paused outside Southampton Crown Court. Around 50 Stand Up To Racism activists had gathered at the Bargate, and the anti-immigration group walked past without incident. In Dover, police vehicles lined the streets outside Dover Priory Station, the march's starting point. 2 Right · 1GB News added context on the wider campaign: it said the demonstrations follow a movement begun in September by Patriot Platform, with protests in Dover, Portsmouth and Gosport, and cited 1,655 small-boat arrivals between 21 and 27 September, including 781 in a single day. 3

Right · 1GB News reported that the protests aim to raise awareness of public anger at the government's response to Channel crossings, and a woman addressing the Southampton crowd through a megaphone said: "You are supposed to protect us, not these illegal men coming into our country." 3 Mixed · 2The Press Association and GB News both reported a brief row when a woman outside a cafe shouted "scum" at the marchers, and that many bystanders stopped to film the march on their phones. 2 3