Police confront anti‑immigration protesters in Portsmouth after small boat arrival

Anti‑immigration demonstrators gathered on the waterfront in Portsmouth on Saturday after a small vessel carrying an estimated 140 migrants made landfall in the city’s harbour. The arrival, which was intercepted by the UK Border Force, prompted a rapid deployment of police officers to manage the crowd, which numbered several dozen and included members of local protest groups opposed to the government's asylum policies.

Police used mounted units and crowd‑control tactics to disperse the protesters, resulting in a number of arrests and several injuries reported among both demonstrators and officers. Authorities confirmed that the migrants were taken into temporary accommodation while their asylum claims are processed. The incident underscores ongoing tensions surrounding irregular migration and the response of law‑enforcement agencies to public demonstrations in the United Kingdom.