By Jahanzaib Saqib — SCN NEWS
PORTSMOUTH, England — Anti-migration demonstrators broke away from a rally in Portsmouth on Saturday and pursued counter-protesters through city streets, escalating a day of rival demonstrations in a southern English city that has rapidly become a flashpoint in Britain's increasingly confrontational debate over irregular migration.
Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered around Portsmouth Guildhall, with anti-migration protesters chanting “stop the boats” while a separate rally led by Stand Up To Racism carried signs supporting refugees and opposing racism. Police maintained a substantial presence between the two groups as they followed routes through the city centre.
Sky News correspondent Dan Whitehead, reporting from Portsmouth, said both groups spent hours chanting outside the Guildhall before the counter-protest began leaving. He reported that around 100 people from the anti-migration demonstration then “splintered off” and chased the departing counter-protesters through Portsmouth's streets.
The incident presented police with a difficult containment operation after officers had initially succeeded in keeping the opposing demonstrations separated. Scuffles were reported as police sought to prevent the confrontation from developing into more serious disorder.
Saturday's demonstrations had already been treated by authorities as carrying an elevated risk. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary introduced special powers covering the protest area from Saturday morning until Sunday morning, including a Section 60AA order allowing officers to require people concealing their identities to remove masks or other face coverings. Failure to comply could lead to arrest.
Police said the measures followed recent incidents involving violence and intimidation by a minority of people disrupting peaceful protest in Portsmouth. Officers said preventing participants from concealing their identities would reduce opportunities for violence, intimidation and criminal activity.
Neither side appeared to be wearing masks during the main Saturday gatherings after the police warning, according to reporting from the scene. Anti-migration demonstrators carrying Union flags assembled near counter-protesters displaying Stand Up To Racism and Refugees Welcome banners before both groups marched toward Guildhall Square.
The confrontation comes only six days after much more serious disorder at Eastney Marina, where protesters gathered following the arrival of a small boat carrying people who had crossed the English Channel. Hampshire police said several police, Coastguard and Border Force vehicles were damaged and a small number of officers were injured during the September 6 disorder.
Police estimated that crowd at around 200 people and said officers had been deployed alongside Border Force, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, RNLI and Portsmouth City Council. Detectives subsequently began reviewing hundreds of hours of footage to identify suspected offences.
A 42-year-old Portsmouth man was arrested on September 11 and charged with violent disorder and assaulting a police constable in connection with the Eastney Marina incident. He was remanded to appear before Portsmouth Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
The earlier unrest followed the arrival of approximately 120 asylum seekers after an unusually long Channel journey from Normandy. Protesters attempted to prevent authorities from transporting the arrivals away from the port, while police used batons and PAVA synthetic pepper spray during confrontations with demonstrators.
The Portsmouth developments are part of a wider political battle over small-boat migration in Britain. Successive governments have struggled to prevent crossings of the English Channel, and anti-migration activists have increasingly targeted ports, accommodation sites and infrastructure associated with asylum seekers. Dover experienced a similar protest last weekend in which demonstrators blocked roads around the major ferry port.
But Portsmouth has also produced an incident illustrating how quickly the heightened atmosphere can affect people entirely unrelated to asylum migration.
On Tuesday, protesters gathered outside Portsmouth's Marriott hotel after reports circulated that a group of foreign men arriving by coach were asylum seekers. They were actually members of the Pakistan Under-19 cricket team, visiting Britain for a cricket tour. A local Reform councillor contacted during the incident spoke to hotel management and the team before telling the protesters they had identified the group incorrectly, after which they dispersed.
The England and Wales Cricket Board subsequently checked on the welfare of the Pakistani players. The episode came only two days after the Eastney disorder and demonstrated how suspicion surrounding migrant accommodation and transport had spread beyond protests directly connected with Channel arrivals.
Britain's government has meanwhile demanded stronger enforcement against violence and intimidation associated with demonstrations. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called ahead of Saturday's rallies for effective police action and a strong deterrent against a repetition of the previous weekend's disorder.
The government has maintained that peaceful protest is a democratic right while drawing a distinction between lawful demonstrations and intimidation or criminal disorder. Police similarly said before Saturday's event that they would facilitate lawful protest but would not tolerate people seeking to create fear or incite violence.
Saturday's pursuit of counter-demonstrators therefore adds another stage to an unusually rapid escalation in Portsmouth. In less than a week, the city has experienced disorder surrounding a migrant landing, allegations of attacks on police and official vehicles, mistaken targeting of a Pakistani youth cricket team, extraordinary policing restrictions and now direct street confrontation between rival protest groups.
The pattern presents British authorities with a challenge extending beyond management of individual demonstrations: preventing anger over migration policy from evolving into intimidation based simply on people's perceived nationality, ethnicity or immigration status while preserving the legal right of both supporters and opponents of government migration policies to protest peacefully.