This weekend saw hundreds of people take part in two anti-migrant protests. The men in balaclavas in Dover, and the crowd trying to block the migrant coaches in Portsmouth.
But how are they linked? The answer is one man – Danny Thomas, more often known as Danny Tommo – and some apparently poor decision-making by Border Force officials.
Saturday’s protest in Dover saw men in black clothing and balaclavas block the town’s main roads for several hours.
When Border Force then had to decide where to ask the RNLI to bring a boatful of migrants ashore on Sunday after an unusual longer English Channel crossing from Baie de Seine, it opted for the Eastney landing stage.
The very place where the passenger ferry departs Portsmouth for Hayling Island.
Whether this decision was made through ignorance or incompetence, it made it very easy for Thomas to mobilise his local support late on Sunday using social media.
AlamyThomas is a long-term campaigner against migrants and says he is a Christian.
“Christ is King!” was shouted alongside “Stop the boats!” at the Dover protest.
He first came to public attention in 2016 when he was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to attempting to kidnap at knifepoint a man called Graham Page.
When he left prison, he became a close associate of the anti-migrant and anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
They appear to be less close now, though Robinson has expressed support for this weekend’s protests.
Thomas has spent the last year filming himself harassing migrants on the beaches of France, and sharing the videos on social media.
In July, he announced a new venture called Patriot Platform and has been drumming up support for what he called “mass resistance”, without violence.
It describes itself as a movement by “the sons and daughters of this island” designed to “take our country back”.
In a video posted on Wednesday and apparently filmed with supporters in the north west of England, Thomas tells a group of men gathered on a playing field that “something is about to go down and men from all round the country will be involved in it”.
“Once we pull this off it will snowball in the entire country,” he says later in the clip, in which he also tells the group the movement is about “boxing clever” and exercising “discipline”.
“We create a violent movement now, what do you think is gonna happen? We’ll get nicked,” he says.
Lania TkaczykThe Dover balaclava protest, well-organised and disciplined, was the group’s first outing. It is unlikely to be the last.
He seems to be borrowing ideas from groups like Just Stop Oil. Strong visual protests, with maximum disruption.
Kent Police described the protest in Dover as “spontaneous”, but the force has since faced questions as to why it did not know about it in advance.
The government has meanwhile condemned the “intimidating and thuggish behaviour” of protesters in Portsmouth.
A spokesperson added: “The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder.”
