Dover port traffic halted by anti-migrant protest

Traffic in and out of the Port of Dover in southern England was stopped on Saturday after dozens of masked people reportedly protesting Channel migrant crossings blocked access to the terminal.

The Port of Dover said traffic was stopped because of an ongoing public order incident. The port authority said protesters were blocking all routes in and out of the terminal.

Local police said they were engaging with protesters.

Images shared online, which AFP could not independently verify, showed dozens of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas on roads around the port.

Paul King, a local councillor for the anti-immigration Reform UK party, said he had been told it was a “stop the boats protest”.

The Port of Dover links southern England with northern France. During summer months, the port says it handles more than 10,000 freight vehicles and 15,000 passenger vehicles a day, and accounts for a third of Britain’s goods trade with the European Union.

Britain has been trying to reduce Channel crossings by migrants and asylum seekers. The Labour government has said this summer had the lowest number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the Channel since 2019, partly because of cooperation deals with France.