Dover has once again been brought to a standstill by far-right groups marching through the town to protest against the arrival of refugees and a counter-rally by anti-fascist protesters.
Police closed roads and deployed hundreds of officers to ensure that the two groups of demonstrators marched along separate routes through the port town in Kent. Many streets were lined with officers in riot gear in a bid to prevent a repeat of the violent clashes that took place between the two groups in January.
Far-right demonstrators gathered opposite Dover Priory station and chanted, “No more refugees” as they set off, surrounded by police. According to a live blog on the anarchist website libcom.org, numbers on the anti-immigration side were “pretty low”, estimating that less than 100 were in attendance.
At one point, anti-fascist protesters blocked the route of the far-right march, prompting Dover’s Tory MP, Charlie Elphicke, to post an angry tweet:
Militant hard left occupying port road at Dover. Unwelcome, damaging to our nation's economy and the town. Go away. pic.twitter.com/pSwDiWqQk9
— Charlie Elphicke (@CharlieElphicke) April 2, 2016
According to libcom.org, police used vans to clear a route through the blockade for the far-right march to proceed.
Live footage broadcast by RT at 3pm showed a small crowd waving English flags hemmed in by dozens of officers at a spot near the seafront. Minutes later they were funnelled towards a rallying point under heavy police escort. Speakers addressed the crowd in front of a banner saying: “Rapefugees not welcome.”
One said: “Cameron wants Turkey to join the EU. That’s potentially 75 million Muslims who can walk straight into Europe. Do you want an Islamic Europe? Vote no – let’s get out of Europe and let’s take our country back.”
Minutes later, far-right protesters burned a European flag as the crowd chanted, “Out, out, out.”
EU flag being burned in #Dover pic.twitter.com/WG0o4wTgSg
— Marc (@MarcStevenPhoto) April 2, 2016
Kent police said they had undertaken a “comprehensive policing operation” to prevent a repeat of previous clashes. Almost 40 people have been arrested in connection with demonstrations in the town on 30 January, which descended into street fighting.
A post on the Facebook page for the South East Alliance, a hard-right group, claimed that the police had “thrown everything at us to stop this march”. It claimed activists had faced arrest and “ridiculous” bail conditions to stop them attending. It also claimed that leftwing Facebook pages had posted names and addresses of activists, as well as “aggitators posing as Dover residents and complaining to the media”.
Screen grabs posted on the event page for the No Neo-Nazis in Dover counter-protest showed some of the comments that had been removed from beneath the post, including one which said: “Fk israel, these jews are the reason why we have massive nonwhite invasions in the first place.” Another comment, since removed, said: “Good luck brothers and sisters save our country from the evil hordes x x God be with you.”
Highways England tweeted that traffic was being held up in both directions on the A20 between the B2011 and A256, and on the A2 between the A20 and A256.
Kent police said eight people had been arrested on Marine Parade for failing to comply with conditions regarding the right to assembly, which include a prohibition on wearing masks.
