Stopping the Boats — There Is a Better Way Than Wearing Balaclavas

The full force of the law should be applied

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On 18th July, 2024, a sixty-year-old man was found guilty of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance at Southwark Crown Court and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

His crime?

He helped organise a protest deliberately designed to bring the M25 to a standstill. It wasn’t simply a protest. It was an attempt to disrupt one of Britain’s busiest motorways.

The sixty-year-old man was Roger Hallam, a well-known climate activist. I don’t condone what he did. Imagine an ambulance carrying a critical patient on a motorway deliberately brought to a standstill.

I’m a retired police inspector. I’ve been there on the front line with picketers and protesters, and I know just how difficult — and expensive — these incidents can be to manage.

The police have to deal with these situations impartially. It doesn’t matter if they agree or disagree with the protestors, or think they have a point. Their job is to prevent crime, preserve order, and protect life and property.

Last Saturday, a different protest took place. Hundreds of masked men descended on Dover, wearing all black and balaclavas, blocked the roads into one of Britain’s most important ports and brought traffic to a standstill.

I don’t see this as a fundamentally different problem. I see another public-order problem. This wasn’t a demonstration. It was a blockade. And I think the law should be applied with the same vigour.

Image courtesy of BBC fair use policy.

This wasn’t a spontaneous gathering of angry locals. It was a coordinated anti-migrant protest. The balaclava-clad men linked arms to block roads leading to the port and chanted slogans including “Stop the boats.” The result was a four-mile traffic jam and the temporary closure of access to the port.

This wasn’t some minor inconvenience outside a village hall. Dover handles more than nine million passengers and more than two million freight vehicles every year. It is a critical route between Britain and Europe.

When you block it, you aren’t merely irritating a few people trying to get home. You are interfering with tourists, families, hauliers, businesses, supply chains and people trying to earn a living.

“Local residents found the group **“extremely intimidating”, according to Dover MP Mike Tapp, while [port workers](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmwyzxlzxpzgt?post=asset%3A77282010-c684-493c-be15-d86363881394#post), [tourists](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmwyzxlzxpzgt?post=asset%3A15aff154-c789-40ff-83b1-4e4dade856b4#post) and [commuters](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmwyzxlzxpzgt?post=asset%3A2ea91d9f-c51f-4cca-add8-06c761443876#post) say they were prevented from going anywhere for several hours. National Highways reported [four miles of congestion, with queues of up to 45 minutes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmwyzxlzxpzgt?post=asset%3A4aa7151b-5e40-4c0e-a0be-b613decd315c#post)** for those entering the port.”

— BBC News, Source

Kent Police later reported all involved had dispersed and no arrests had been made.

According to the Guardian newspaper: “Black-clad Dover vigilantes will return if police do not act, …”

“Police response to Dover blockade ‘too slow’, says council. Officers accused of being ‘caught on the hoof’ by hundreds of masked activists.”

— The Telegraph, Source

How many police do you think were on duty in Dover on a Saturday morning? Imagine being the duty inspector and hearing that several hundred masked men have just turned up at the port. I’d want every available officer there with me — often that would mean both of them.

No worries, we have a can of CS Spray and a baton.

I’ve led operations involving nuclear convoys. It doesn't take many people to disrupt one. We rely heavily on intelligence — even when there is no indication of trouble, dozens of well-briefed officers escort the convoy and can deal with any situations that develop.

The police are bloody good at preparing for the expected. But they are also an emergency service, and do a commendable job often under challenging circumstances — despite massive cuts over the past fifteen years.

However, specialist units involving trained Public Order officers take time to organise on the fly. Some might be on their days off and at their kid’s swimming lesson. They have to make alternative arrangements, travel to work, get kitted out and briefed before they can mount up and head to the problem.

It also means officers have to drop what they were doing. That inevitably reduces the policing resources available elsewhere. Every officer diverted to one incident is an officer not available elsewhere.

Behind the anti-immigration protest was Patriot Platform, a newly formed far-right organisation coordinated by Daniel Thomas.

Thomas isn’t simply another political campaigner. He is a convicted criminal. In 2016, he was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to attempted kidnapping. He and two others had burst into a man’s home armed with knives, wrongly believing he had stolen £10,000 worth of drugs. The judge described the incident as “extraordinarily frightening” and matched only by its “stupidity”.

Thomas is an associate of Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist. Robinson endorsed the protest.

Robinson has built his public profile around anti-Islam and anti-immigration campaigning and provocative demonstrations. He has a substantial criminal and legal record, including convictions and imprisonment for offences including assault, fraud and contempt of court.

This tells us something about the people organising and promoting this protest.

There is a difference between arguing that Britain should control unauthorised migration and turning up in a makeshift uniform, covering your face and telling everyone you are going to stop people yourselves.

When you organise masked men to obstruct their legal movement, and when the movement behind you has links to the far right, I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask whether we are witnessing not simply opposition to immigration, but racism.

It isn’t patriotism to vilify people simply because they are foreigners. If the target is a group of people defined by their nationality, ethnicity or perceived foreignness, racism is a legitimate word to use.

And stupidity.

Do they really think they can patrol Britain’s shores and prevent people from entering the country illegally? Do they understand the issues these people are facing? Clearly not.

The United Nations refugee agency says climate shocks are pushing vulnerable people into even more desperate circumstances. Three out of four forcibly displaced people now live in countries facing high or extreme exposure to climate-related hazards.

Climate change is increasing displacement, disrupting food systems, and threatening livelihoods. Combined with wars, there is a compelling reason to get on a boat to somewhere safer — wouldn’t you? If your family was starving, your home had been destroyed, or you were in danger of being killed, wouldn’t you look for somewhere safer?

Patriot Platform would be better off spending time protesting governments failing to tackle climate change or wars. They could campaign for better support for other struggling countries. They could ask why some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people are left to deal with crises they had little part in creating.

Instead, they stand at Dover in balaclavas shouting “Stop the boats”. The answer isn’t standing beside the sea in a balaclava, obstructing the police and getting in the way of the RNLI as it brings people ashore. The RNLI isn’t bringing migrants to Britain. It’s rescuing people from drowning.

My position is simple.

I don’t care whether the people blocking the road are climate protesters, anti-immigration protesters, striking miners, football supporters or people protesting against the poll tax.

People have a right to protest. They do not have the right to stop everybody else going about their lawful business. If five people conspiring to shut down the M25 can receive lengthy prison sentences, the same should apply to balaclava-clad racists.

The law is the law no matter where you are on the political spectrum.