Police and demonstrators during the protest in Gosport on Sunday evening

About 150 anti-migrant demonstrators gathered in a south coast town to stop a group of migrants, who had crossed the English Channel in a small boat, being brought ashore by the RNLI.

Some flares were set off and there were a few scuffles with police during the stand-off at a marina in Gosport that lasted into the early hours of Monday morning.

The Home Office said 149 migrants were picked up in a mid-Channel rescue operation by the RNLI alongside a French vessel.

They were taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent. It is the second known landing of large numbers of migrants this far west along the south coast in recent years.

A police cordon was in place on Haslar Road in Gosport, where the atmosphere at the protest mostly remained peaceful.

Some protesters stopped police vans from advancing by standing in front of them and chanting "shame on you" and "deport the lot".

Hampshire Police said it deployed officers to "support our partners in the event of an emergency at sea". The force imposed conditions under the Public Order Act as well as powers prohibiting the wearing of face coverings.

The migrants were brought into Gosport onboard an RNLI boat

Hampshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said she was "calling on the Home Secretary to intervene urgently to ensure that UK Border Force has the capacity and vessels to transfer people on the water to Dover.

She said: "No sites across the southern coastline of Britain should be used as 'landing sites'. We are not equipped and we do not have the resources to keep policing this."

Posting on social media, Jones added: "Each protest is costing me £150,000 of taxpayers' money from my police budget which I can ill afford to spend.

"That means there is less police officer time on the streets of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight - urgent action is needed.

Zoe Huggins, Conservative leader of Gosport Borough Council, said she was "angry, frustrated and saddened" that "we were in this scenario again".

She said a small number of protesters had left debris, barricades and nails on roads, and had started a couple of small fires.

Huggins said: "Our call to action is that Border Force have bigger boats, they intercept and they take them straight to Dover to a processing centre that they do not choose Gosport as a initial reception."

She also criticised the lack of communication from the Home Office, saying emails sent on Sunday had not been responded to.

She said: "That's just not on. The Home Office and Border Force need to have a grip on this."

Wooden posts were seen scattered beside Haslar Road in Gosport near Fort Blockhouse following the demonstration

A Home Office spokesperson refused to explain why Gosport had been chosen on this occasion, saying they do not comment on "operational processes".

"The Border Security Command works around the clock to monitor the Channel and protect our border," they said.

They added it was "vital we continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival".

The migrant dinghy appeared to have set off from near Utah Beach in Normandy on Sunday morning, according to ship tracking data.

It is the third crossing in a month. So far this year 19,451 people are recorded as having crossed the Channel in small boats.

That number is 43% lower than this time last year and 23% below the figure at this stage in 2024.

Last month, more than 100 migrants landed at Eastney in Portsmouth, leading to more scuffles between police and demonstrators.

The 51 migrants were were ultimately taken to Dover by sea.

Between 1 January and 27 September 2026, a total of 19,135 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France. This was down by 42% on the same period the previous year.

These crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020.

Nearly all those who arrive by small boat claim asylum. Under international law, this means they are allowed to stay in the country while their asylum application is considered.

Small boat arrivals made up 40% of asylum applications between July 2025 to June 2026.

Boats that arrived in the UK from 28 September 2025 to 27 September 2026 carried an average of 67 people. This has more than doubled since 2021.

Experts say overcrowding in boats makes crossings riskier. At least 84 people died while attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, according to the United Nations (UN).

When looking at the scale of small boats crossings, the number of these arrivals is about 5% of the size of total immigration into the UK from January 2025 to December 2025.

The government has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind these crossings in order to reduce the numbers.

People from Eritrea accounted for 18% of all arrivals from July 2025 to June 2026.

In the latest figures covering January 2025 to December 2025, at least 2,335 people who arrived by small boat were found to be potential victims of human trafficking or other forms of modern slavery, according to the Home Office.

Another 4,712 people were detected entering the UK without permission via other methods including hiding in vehicles, travelling on ferries or through airports from July 2025 to June 2026. This was down by 17% on the same period the previous year.

There are also individuals who arrive legally, for example via a work or study visa, and then overstay their limit.

The total number of people who live in the UK illegally after arriving legally is not known.

Small boat protest explained: How a Channel crossing sparked unrest

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