Anger as police were "pelted with stones" and "had bricks thrown at them" by protesters

Hampshire Police Federation has spoken of its disgust after colleagues were attacked as they policed a protest over the arrival of a small boat into the county.

Around 200 people took part in the protest near the RNLI lifeboat station in Eastney – where officers were assaulted, police cars were attacked, and two officers were pushed off their motorbike. One officer, who was only three days out of training school, was also pelted with stones. Other officers had bricks thrown at them.

Spencer Wragg, Chair of Hampshire Police Federation, said officers appeared to have become a target while they were trying to police the incident.

He said: “We’ve received reports of officers being assaulted, I've seen footage of officers being pushed off their motorbike, I've seen pictures of police vehicles damaged. It appears that the police last night became the target for some of the protest.

“Thankfully there are no serious injuries to officers, but the professionalism they showed in the face of provocation and immense pressure was admirable. Those scenes in that area of Portsmouth weren’t protests, they weren’t protests at all, it was clear that some people were intent on disorder and venting their frustrations.

“If people have a point to make, and an issue they want to legitimately protest about, that is not about assaulting officers, that is not about damaging vehicles or anything like that. That is just disorder.

“One of policing’s key roles is to protect people’s right to protest, and having been a public order officer for 30 years myself, I’ve policed numerous protests. The vast majority of protests and people attending protest do so peacefully and want to get their view across.

“What we saw last night and into the early hours of this morning doesn’t support the cause of those peacefully protesting, it was merely criminal behaviour of assaults, damage and intimidation.”

Protesters flocked to Eastney just a day after protests in Dover led by Hampshire resident Daniel Thomas who was also at the Portsmouth protest.

Livestreaming while standing in the sea, Mr Thomas, known as Danny Tommo – an associate of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson – said: “Roads are all blocked, they are never going to be able to leave here.”

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed that officers were injured and damage caused,

It said: "A number of police, Coastguard and Border Force vehicles were damaged during the standoff and a handful of police officers were treated at the scene for injuries, none of which were serious.

“Violence and criminal damage have no part in peaceful protest,” the force said in a statement.

“No arrests have been made at this time, however an investigation to identify offenders responsible for any assaults to officers, criminal damage to vehicles or other criminal offences has been launched.

“We can also confirm that Border Force has advised us that individuals from the boat have been transported outside of Hampshire for processing as part of the normal process after they were safely disembarked.”

The government has also confirmed that although no arrests were made last night, an investigation has been launched.