"Masked men" close British Dover port in protest against "boat migration"

Dozens of masked protesters blocking the Channel crossing of migrants closed the entrances to Dover Port in southern England, disrupting ferry traffic between France and the United Kingdom.

The Port of Dover Authority stated in a statement that “traffic to and from the port has stopped due to an incident involving public order,” while local police said they were dealing with the protesters.

The authority added that the protesters had blocked “all roads” leading to and from the port terminal.

Images circulating online showed dozens of people dressed in black and wearing face-covering masks walking toward the roads leading to the port, which connects southern England with northern France.

Paul King, a local council member for the anti-immigration Reform UK party, said he was informed that this was “a protest to stop the arrival of boats.”

Britain has been seeking ways to curb these dangerous crossings, after tens of thousands of migrants arrived on the southeast England coast from France in recent years.

The Labour Party government said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers this summer was the lowest since 2019, attributing this to cooperation agreements with the French government.