UK's Dover port resumes operations after protesters blocked migrant crossings

Dover Port in southern England resumed operations after its entrances and exits were blocked for several hours by hundreds of masked protesters demonstrating against migrants crossing the English Channel, which temporarily disrupted ferry traffic between France and the United Kingdom.

In a statement, the UK’s Dover Port said traffic resumed normally around noon, hours after it was halted on Saturday morning. Local police said they “dealt with” the protesters who had blocked “all roads” leading to the ferry terminal used by vessels connecting southern England and northern France.

Images circulating online showed dozens of people in black clothing and face-covering masks walking toward the roads leading to the port.

In a live online broadcast, apparently filmed by one of the demonstrators, a crowd of men dressed in black chanted “Stop the boats” while standing in front of a line of police officers.

One affected traveler told Sky News that he was stranded on a ferry in Dunkirk for more than an hour and a half.

Dover is the UK’s largest port for incoming ferries from abroad.

Britain has been seeking ways to curb dangerous “boat” 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.