Portsmouth anti-immigration protests return. Will a third weekend bring arrests?
Anti-immigration protesters marched in Portsmouth again on 12 September, a week after the trouble in Eastney. Three arrests. Police seek six more men.
What happened
Anti-immigration protesters marched from Commercial Road to Guildhall Square in Portsmouth on Saturday , a week after the Eastney Marina disorder, met by a Stand Up to Racism counter-march and a police operation that made three arrests, including the first under the new face-covering power.
Portsmouth saw a second weekend of anti-immigration protest. Shortly before midday on Saturday, protesters gathered outside All Saints Church on Commercial Road and marched to Guildhall Square, chanting against small boats. The BBC put the march at up to 500 people. A Stand Up to Racism counter-march of about 300 followed on the same route, and police kept the two groups apart under protest conditions.
Police made three arrests. A 76-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of hiding his identity, the first use in the city of a new face-covering power under the Crime and Policing Act, which took effect at 10am. A 33-year-old was arrested on suspicion of obstructing the highway and criminal damage, and a 16-year-old from Waterlooville on suspicion of violent disorder at Eastney the Sunday before.
The police and crime commissioner said the day passed without a repeat of the attacks on officers seen a week earlier.
The first weekend was on . Hundreds of people blocked roads at Eastney Marina to stop coaches carrying 120 people who had crossed from near Cherbourg in a dinghy. Seven officers were treated for injuries, Coastguard and Border Force vehicles were damaged, and nobody was arrested on the night.
On Sunday Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary released CCTV images of six men after checking hundreds of hours of footage. The assistant chief constable said arrests at the time are not always possible, and that the investigation should be read as a warning for future events.
Three people have been charged so far. A 42-year-old is charged with violent disorder and assaulting an officer, and was remanded to the crown court on . The 76-year-old is charged with hiding his identity and was due in court on Monday. The 33-year-old is charged with obstructing the highway and attempted criminal damage, with a hearing listed for .
Ministers have so far acted through the police and not through Parliament. The policing minister told MPs on that Dover and Portsmouth were protest activity. On the home secretary told chief constables to make full use of the face-covering power, and on Hampshire, Staffordshire and Northumbria police all used it. Kent Police made no arrests at Dover.
The Patriot Platform, launched at Dover on , shares its videos through a YouTube channel with more than a million views and a £4.99 monthly subscription. Its leader told a recruitment event in August to expect a big push in the following three or four weeks. The campaign group Hope Not Hate says the 2024 riots were stopped by making arrests quickly.
Sources: Guardian (2, 3, 4, 5), BBC (2, 3)
The Pattern
We looked for anti-immigration protests in Britain since 2023 where the same town saw protests on two weekends in a row, and the first weekend had arrests or disorder reported by police. Then we checked news reports of the weekend after, looking for a protest in the same place with arrests or disorder. We found three such cases, one fewer than the four our method asks for, so the record is thin.
Show the other 1 cases
The Read
History leans towards a third weekend with arrests. Two of the three past protest runs that reached a second weekend went on to a third. The closest case, Epping in 2025, ran every Sunday from to , with arrests on most of them. Portsmouth has what Epping had, a local group and a national one. The face-covering power also means any march now carries a risk of arrest even when nothing else happens, as the 76-year-old’s charge shows.
The market opened at 45, lower than history suggests, because the record is thin. Saturday passed without disorder, by the commissioner’s own account, and the trigger was one boat landing and not a hotel that stays in place. The 2024 wave points the other way: no town saw a second weekend once charges and sentences came within days. In 2023 the Knowsley protests faded after fifteen arrests on the first night, with no third-weekend protest on record. The Patriot Platform moves with the boat landings, so its next march may be at another port.
A local Portsmouth group supplied Saturday’s march, and the organisers want to be seen and to earn money. The police want charges that deter the next march, the lesson Hope Not Hate draws from 2024. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service decide charges and conditions. The protest groups decide whether to call a third march, and Stand Up to Racism has said it will oppose every one. History is wrong if no march is called for 19 or , or if one passes with no arrest. The charges market turns on whether the appeal for six men brings charges by . The Commons market turns on whether the home secretary speaks in the House before it rises on .
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