Masked men block traffic to UK's port of Dover, site of past anti-immigrant protests

Masked men block traffic to UK's port of Dover, site of past anti-immigrant protests LONDON: Hundreds of masked people protesting Channel migrant crossings blocked access to the Port of Dover in southern England on Saturday (Sep 5), briefly halting traffic being ferried between France and the UK. The Port of Dover said traffic was "free-flowing" again around noon, hours after being "stopped" on Saturday morning as roads approaching the port were blocked by protesters. Local police said no arrests had been made and the protest, which initially blocked "all routes" in and out of the terminal, had been dispersed. Images shared online showed hundreds of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas streaming to roads surrounding the port, used by ferries between southern England and northern France. In an online livestream that appeared to be shot by one of the protesters, a crowd of black-clad men chanted "stop the boats" as they stood facing a police line. TENS OF THOUSANDS ARRIVING ANNUALLY Britain has been grappling with how to curb the perilous and politically contentious small-boat crossings, which in recent years have seen tens of thousands of migrants arriving annually on the shores of southeast England. The issue has been relentlessly seized upon by the hard-right in the country, which has surged in popularity on the back of growing anti-immigration sentiment. The centre-left Labour government has said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the Channel was the lowest this summer since 2019, in part because of cooperation deals with the French government. A government spokesperson "condemned" the protest while a hard-right Reform UK party MP called the disruption "disgraceful". While there were no reports of violence, several local politicians slammed the balaclava-clad protest as "intimidating". But far-right, anti-Islam figurehead Tommy Robinson backed the protest, saying it was "British patriots send(ing) a warning shot to the establishment". One passenger affected by the disruption told Sky News they were "stuck on a boat in Dunkirk for over an hour and a half". "Stop the boats? Wrong ones!" added the passenger, who was not named. During summer months, the Port of Dover says it handles more than 10,000 freight vehicles and 15,000 passenger vehicles a day, and is responsible for a third of Britain's goods trade with the EU. It is the UK's biggest international ferry port.