Masked anti-migrant protesters shut down UK’s Dover port

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Dozens of masked people reportedly protesting Channel migrant crossings blocked access to the Port of Dover in southern England on Saturday, halting traffic that is ferried between France and the UK.

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“Traffic going in and out of the Port is stopped due to an ongoing public order incident,” the Port of Dover said in a statement, as local police said they were “engaging” with protesters.

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The port authority added that the protesters were blocking “all routes” in and out of the terminal.

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Images shared online, which AFP could not independently verify, showed dozens of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas streaming to roads surrounding the port, which connects southern England to northern France.

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

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Britain has been grappling with how to curb the perilous and politically contentious crossings, which in recent years have seen tens of thousands of migrants arriving annually on the shores of southeast England.

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The issue has been relentlessly seized upon by the hard-right, which has surged in popularity on the back of growing anti-immigration sentiment.

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The centre-left Labour government has said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the Channel was the lowest this summer since 2019, in part because of cooperation deals with the French government.

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During summer months, the Port of Dover says it handles more than 10,000 freight vehicles and 15,000 passenger vehicles a day, and is responsible for a third of Britain’s goods trade with the EU.

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