Disruption at Port of Dover due to 'stop the boats' protest
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Disruption at Port of Dover due to 'stop the boats' protest
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Figure caption: Masked men chanting 'stop the boats' protest at Port of Dover
By Simon Jones
and Craig Buchan
,
South East
Published 5 September 2026, 09:00 BST
Updated 17 minutes ago
There has been major disruption at the Port of Dover due to a large group of masked men holding a demonstration.
Hundreds of protesters, dressed in black and wearing face coverings, blocked roads and were heard chanting "stop the boats".
Traffic was stopped from going in and out of the port, with the government saying it condemned "the behaviour in Dover and the travel disruption it has caused".
Kent Police, which made no arrests, described it as a "spontaneous" protest. Officers moved the crowd from the port to Dover Priory railway station at about 11:30 BST and the force said "all involved had dispersed by 12:00".
Paul King, Reform UK councillor for Dover West, said he had been told it was a "stop the boats protest".
Kent Police has not yet commented on who was behind the demo.
Far-right activists Tommy Robinson and Danny Thomas both posted about it on X, praising those involved.
Thomas is believed to be the founder of the Patriot Platform network.
Anti-hate organisation Hope Not Hate claims that Patriot Platform arranged the protest, saying the group began meeting in July and has brought together members of anti-migrant groups from around the country.
Demonstrators told the BBC they did not want to talk to the media, although one said "send them back" and another said "stop the boats" when approached.
Disruption at Port of Dover as 'stop the boats' protesters block roads
Dover and Deal MP Mike Tapp said the incident, which started at about 07:00, caused "absolutely awful disruption" for residents.
"My understanding is a number of individuals have travelled to the area, wearing black, wearing balaclavas, and have blocked a number of roads leading into the port area," he said.
Tapp added on Facebook: "I am fed up with idiots coming to Dover to cause disruption.
"I bet if you asked any one of those 'protesters' they wouldn't know small boat crossing are down by 40% and we are working hard to fix the mess."
The Port of Dover said operations had returned to normal and routes in and out of the town had all reopened.
"We thank our customers and local community for their patience whilst the police managed the public order incident," it said.
P&O said it would get passengers on to the next available sailing if they had missed their scheduled crossing, as did ferry operator DFDS.
Image caption: Police directed protesters towards Dover Priory railway station
Ferry passenger Remco van Schellen arrived from the Netherlands at about 08:00.
He said: "When we wanted to leave the ferry terminal with the car, we couldn't go any further. There were people blocking the roads, the roundabout, just outside of the ferry terminal in Dover.
"There were people in black clothing, their faces masked, so we couldn't see who they were."
Rafael Pittman, a tour guide from London, said the area had been "absolute chaos" in the three hours that he was there, waiting to pick up a group of tourists who had docked at Dover.
He said: "Passengers didn't disembark and we couldn't enter the terminal as it was blocked by freight trucks. The hooded protesters arrived en masse, passed the trucks and headed towards the cruise terminal."