Council leader says bringing migrants to Portsmouth was “completely unsuitable” and “put people at risk”
The council leader said the authority was not told about the decision to bring migrants to Portsmouth
Portsmouth’s council leader said bringing migrants to Eastney beach was a “completely unsuitable location” that “put people at risk”.
Councillor Steve Pitt said Border Force, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Home Office were responsible for the decision to bring migrants to Eastney on Sunday evening.
He blasted the government for its “poor judgement”, while also calling for it to do more with small boat crossings.
Riot police with shields were forced to protect coaches after it is believed the dingy carrying around 140 migrants made one of the longest journeys of any small boat before arriving in Portsmouth.
Masked demonstrators blocked the road leading away from the RNLI Portsmouth Lifeboat Station at Eastney Marina, with photos showing police carrying riot shields forming a line and protecting a number of coaches that were parked up.
The landing site the migrants were taken to by the RNLI is on a narrow shingle bank with only one road leading towards the city.
All of those brought ashore were taken to a location for processing in the usual way, the Home Office said, likely to be the Manston arrivals and processing centre in Kent.
The dinghy is thought to have made one of the longest journeys of any small boat, and landings as far west as Hampshire are rare. It was met by lifeboats from the Isle of Wight when it reached UK waters.
Cllr Pitt said: "The Government needs to take more action to prevent small boat crossings. Clearly people are not happy with the situation and we respect everyone's right to protest but it should be done peacefully and within the law.
"We are pleased the coaches were eventually able to leave Portsmouth early this morning to take people outside of Hampshire for processing in the normal way.
"The council wasn't asked about the decision to land the lifeboats in Portsmouth. This was entirely a decision taken by UK Border Force, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Home Office. It was a completely unsuitable location to bring the boats ashore, this entire situation was avoidable and has brought needless disruption to our city.
"I would like to thank the emergency services for their professionalism under very challenging circumstances. However, the Home Office has some serious questions to answer about their lack of planning, inconsistent decision-making and ultimately, poor judgement. They put people at risk. This cannot happen again."
Barry Williams was out on his boat before returning to the pontoon at Eastney beach where he spotted two “big” offshore lifeboats “full of migrants”.
He said: “As the day progressed a lot of protesters came. Some were just protesting but unfortunately some of them did damage to police vehicles and any official car that was here like Border Control.
“They tried to block the road with concrete blocks and had come from far afield. One guy said he had come from Gatwick.”
Barry said there was also an incident involving his boat. “I don’t know what they thought they could do but they said ‘can we have your boat?’ and I said ‘no it’s run out of petrol’. They said they would give me £200 but I said the tide was going out so you’re not going to go anywhere.
“I went to bed at 4am and (the protesters) drove off with the coaches then. Before that there was riot police and it was chaos.”
Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East Joe Robertson posted: “Extremely concerning to see an illegal migrant crossing this far west.
“We don’t know if this migrant boat was headed for the Isle of Wight but I’ll be contacting the Home Office first thing. We need to know exactly what happened and if new routes are being used for mega-dinghies by people smugglers.”
The protesters said they were determined to prevent authorities from transporting the migrants away.
Livestreaming while standing in the sea at Eastney beach, Daniel 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.”
He said: “It was only yesterday (at the protests in Dover) when we warned them that we will not accept this any more, and that this is no longer an option to tell us that the boat numbers are down.
“This isn’t about the numbers being down… this is about understanding that this has to come to an end now.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour we saw in Portsmouth last night.
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder. We thank the emergency services who safely managed this situation.
“This Government is doing the hard and necessary work of bearing down on small boats crossings, with the lowest number of June to August arrivals since 2020.”
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: “In response to a report on September 6 of a small boat heading towards the Hampshire coast, HM Coastguard sent lifeboats, an HM Coastguard helicopter, an HM Coastguard aeroplane and HM Coastguard Rescue Teams.
“Border Force, Border Security Command, Hampshire Police and South Central Ambulance Service were also sent.”
Large crowds of masked, black-clad men blocked road access to the Port of Dover on Saturday, in scenes which have been condemned by politicians.
The Port of Dover rally was criticised by politicians from all parties, with questions expected to be raised on Monday over whether Kent Police were prepared for it, and there could be similar criticism of Hampshire Police.