Twelve arrests after protest over migrant boat arrival
Twelve people were arrested following a protest against migrant boat arrivals in Gosport, Hampshire. The demonstration involved scuffles with police and flares, occurring after a rescue operation brought 149 migrants to the UK coast.
Why it matters
The incident underscores the ongoing political and social friction in the UK regarding immigration policy and the management of small boat crossings.
Published 5 October 2026, 13:38 BST Updated 2 minutes ago Twelve people have been arrested for offences including assaulting a police officer after a protest over migrant arrivals in a south coast town.
Some flares were set off and there were a few scuffles with police during the stand-off at a marina in Gosport, Hampshire, involving about 150 anti-migrant demonstrators on Sunday.
The Home Office said 149 migrants had been picked up in a mid-Channel rescue operation by the RNLI alongside a French vessel.
Eleven men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of offences including assaulting a police officers, affray and racially aggravated public orders. All remain in custody.
The migrants were taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent.
It is the second known landing of large numbers of migrants this far west along the south coast in recent years.
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